LIVE - Zaandam Asia Explorer February 5-19

[rafinmd]

I would normally wait for Carol's Bon Voyage to start this thread but I have printed my boarding pass and am leaving home today. I will be at an airport tonight and tomorrow will be a difficult day.

I leave BWI at 7AM for Toronto, Tokyo, and Singapore. I have 22:20 airborne and another 6 1/ hours in YYZ and NRT, and will cross 11 time zones and the international dateline. My reports will be pretty much the same format I used last summer on the Rotterdam and Prinsendam, Most of the pictures I post will be on the companion blog at http://zaandamasia.wordpress.com. Good news, I think. I was offered and accepted an upsell to Executive class on AC1 Toronto to Tokyo. Not cheap but that's a very long flight in sardine class. For Tokyo-Singapore and Hong Kong-Chicago-BWI I am in United's Premium Economy section.

I will make a request here. There has been quite a bit of talk about the recent change in HAL smoking policy and also about the age and condition of the Zaandam. I'd like to keep this thread related to the voyage experience and would like to keep the smoking/condition issues on another thread. Questions relating to other matters are absolutely welcome here.

This will be the first time I sail a HAL ship twice. My previous time on the Zaandam was Skagway to Vancouver in 2002 and my memory of the ship itself from that brief trip are now a bit cloudy. My most vivid memory is a beautiful sighting of a bear at glacier bay.

I originally looked at a segment of Crystal Serenity’s world cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong. It was 16 nights and included overnights in Hong Kong and Hanoi, with different Vietnam stops but skipping Ko Samui. It was a very attractive offering but I switched to the Zaandam for 2 reasons.

I had originally wanted to combine the cruise with another long time goal, the Orient Express train from Bangkok. When I booked the cruise Orient Express told me they would have a trip February 1-3. After I had authorized my deposit I heard nothing for a long time and much later found out that they had moved the trip to a later date. I will not get to do that trip but after they changed the date without notifying me I am no longer so eager to do it. My second and still valid reason for switching was cost:

Some Crystal world cruise segments tend to be expensive. For the price of this 16 day world cruise segment I get:

14 nights on the Zaandam

A 14-day fall transatlantic cruise on the Crystal Symphony, similar to the westbound half of Maasdam's Voyage of the Vikings, via Ireland, 2 ports in Iceland and Halifax.

A crossing on QM2 to connect with the above Crystal Symphony voyage.

A 7-day round trip Montreal on the Symphony with visits to Sept Isles. Isle de La Madelaine, and St. Pierre.

To me, 21 nights on Crystal plus 21 nights on HAL/Cunard for the price of 16 on Crystal can only be described as a win-win.
Soon the adventure begins. This post comes to you live from my residence.

Roy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Bon Voyage!!

Hope you have safe flights and all goes well.

Enjoy your cruise.

[keep on cruising]

Bon Voyage.

You will love the Zaandam. Yes it is a little tired and needs some TLC but the wonderful crew more than makes up for it. We were on it for 39 days at the end of the year and enjoyed it immensely. The crew was the friendliest I've ever encountered. And the food, under the direction of Chef Jock, was great.

[RuthC]

Have a wonderful time! This is such a pretty, and exotic, part of the world. how fortunate to be able to experience it. And get all those other cruises free!

It will be a long "day", so when you get to the end of it, relax---then relax some more.

[rafinmd]

Thank you Krazy Kruizers, keep on cruising, and RuthC.

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in 1997. I found out last week that while I have never had any symptoms my lab test indicated a need to resume treatments, this time with a new set of drugs. My previous therapy was a shot every 90 days. The new therapy calls for monthly shots but there is about a week's leeway in either direction while the previous schedule was rigid. I have reviewed my calendar and can accommodate the new therapy with just 1 minor alteration to my travel plans. My first hormone shot was Monday. The therapy has few side effects but the first dose was big and left the injection site tender for a few days. The remaining side effects expected will be hot flashes, tolerable but an unfortunate coincidence with travel to Southeast Asia. I am staying overnight in a hotel at BWI ready for my early flight to Toronto, Tokyo, and Singapore. I would normally leave my car home and use transit to get to the airport. In my delicate condition I cheated and drove to the hotel with my bags, dropped the car home and returned on the bus. I am now settled into the hotel ready for an early morning start.

This is my second visit to the region. In 2010 I embarked on Queen Victoria in Bangkok and cruised to Dubai, duplicating the ports of Ko Samui and Singapore. After I leave Bangkok the rest of the itinerary will be totally new to me.

As I type this it is 9:45PM and Air Canada flight status shows that my plane has landed and is sitting for the night at the gate. It is a mild, clear night; perfect conditions to fly in the morning.

I will head to bed soon, but as my first parting shot I am thinking of my night here almost exactly a year ago, pondering a flight to Papeete on the one snowy night all last winter in Baltimore. Despite the stress of leaving home under stressful conditions I went on to a wonderful voyage. I am expecting at least as much this time.

This post comes to you live from LaQuinta Inn, BWI airport.

Roy

[erewhon]

I will be following your reports with great interest.
Really enjoyed following your last "live from" thread.
Wishing you safe flights, and no side effects from your treatment.

Bon Voyage.

[ScottishMaid]

You may remember we were originally booked on your cruise then canceled to take a different one. So I will be reading your reports with great interest as we intend to cruise in Asia soon.

Hope all your flights go smoothly and that the CC group have a great time!
Jill

[rafinmd]

Thank you erewhon. Jill, wish you were here.

This is both a long and short day. I am writing from Toronto about 10:15am. My flight leaves at noon and when I land again it will be Thursday, after having crossed the International Dateline. For February 1 it has not been very wintery. It is mild with drizzle both in Baltimore and Toronto. My first flight was on a Dash 8, a 37-passenger turboprop. The early morning flight had just over a dozen passengers leaving me plenty of room. I have occasionally gotten views of Niagara Falls from this flight but today’s weather did not permit.

I had a short cruise on the Jewel of the Seas in early January. Since I expected my passport to be away for visa processing I secured a NEXUS card as an alternate ID. HAL arranged all my port clearances so I didn’t need it then but today’s entry to Canada was a new experience. I walked up to a kiosk where I selected a language, let a camera photograph my irises, and walked through Customs without any physical documentation. Canada also has a trusted traveler program for airport security and the NEXUS card allowed me access to that. Security was not busy, and I think my Executive boarding pass also sent me to the priority security lane, and security was a breeze. I have a little time in the terminal before the LONG flight, boarding starts in about 30 minutes.

Au revoir North America.

This post comes to you live from the Lester B. Pierson International Airport.

Roy

[hpf]

Bon Voyage Roy and have a terriffic Holliday. I will be watching the board for your updates, love reading them. Take care of your health and enjoy life to the fullest.
Helen

[rafinmd]

Thank you, Helen

Happy Groundhog day. As I write this it is 4:30PM Tokyo time and 2:30AM Eastern time.

For me, no flight is pleasant, especially one 13 hours in length, but Executive Class makes it a little more bearable. Boarding started about 11:20 and we pushed back about 12:15. The seats are on a diagonal in little oval cubicles with the foodrest on the aisle side and the chair inside the footrest of the person a row back. The partitions between seats are high enough so the strange position is not awkward.

The trip got very compressed for meal purposes with dinner served an hour into the flight and breakfast 2 hours before landing, roughly 11PM Toronto time and 1PM Tokyo time. I'm sure without the upsell I'd have gotten traditional airline tray meals but dinner came in courses with real silverware, table cloth, and cloth napkin.

Our route took us over Hudson Bay, the northern coast of North America, and a little bit of Russia.

The seat folds down into a bed but not a comfortable one. Timing was not really right for sleeping but I think I caught at least a little nap. Breakfast came at 11PM Toronto time and 1PM Tokyo time, mostly an omlet. I’m sure this is totally unrelated to Costa Concordia but it did catch my attention. As we approached Narita, the Flight Attendant announced “For flights longer than 4 hours we are required to remind you of the location of the emergency exits. I’ve never heard that before and don’t know if it’s unique to Canada or a new requirement. I’ll see if United does the same thing approaching Singapore.

We landed a bit early. We were required to go through a new security screening (about 30 minutes) bud did not have to visit Japan customs or immigration.

Today’s parting shot. Air travel is often miserable but it does get one there faster. My previous time in the region (Queen Victoria) I had a long flight but not nearly as long as I crossed the Pacific on the Crystal Symphony to Sydney. LA-Bangkok via Sydney is not very efficient but was much more pleasant than today. Of course I’ll likely never again be as lucky as when I had the Rotterdam to get me to the Prinsendam and QM2 to get back home.

This post comes to you live from Narita International Airport,
Tokyo.

Roy

[erewhon]

Thank you for your reports.

What did the new security screening involve?

[butlerana]

You may remember we were originally booked on your cruise then canceled to take a different one.
http://www.primeaffiliate.com/track/images/20.creation.jpg

[JCruisepal]

Hi
hope you have a good cruise.

I look forward to reading your inputs as my friend and I are going on the same cruise 18 March so any insights to what we can expect, what to see etc etc would be greatly appreciated.

Have fun

[RuthC]

Cruising this area of the world has attracted my attention since my little taste of it last year.
I'm looking forward to your reports from the ship, as well as enjoying your reports of the trip over.

[bcnvcanada]

Love your post, this will be an inteesting cruise. As for upgrading, your right, it is so much better in ex class for first for the long flight. By now you should be near Singapore. Will be interesting to hear how you react to the time change. Thanks for taking us along.

[buckirj1]

I'm late to the party as usual, but Bon Voyage, Roy! Wishing you a wonderful journey. Can't wait to read the rest of your reports. I'll hold down the fort in Ho Co until you return.
Rita (your "neighbor" in Dorsey's Search)

[kazu]

Roy - so happy you got your flight upgraded - it can make a big difference. Have a safe trip and Bon Voyage:):):)

[rafinmd]

Thank you for your reports.

What did the new security screening involve?

I couldn't really see much difference in the procedure from my vantage. Perhaps the metal detectors are set to a little higher tolerance. To get the NEXUS card I had to go to a border station (Niagara Falls for me) for an interview with both US and Canadian immigration officers. It took about 6 weeks for the background checks from the time of my application until I was allowed to schedule the interviews. I also waited a long time for the interview since I live in Maryland and waited until my High School reunion in upstate New York to do it. After that it was very quick. I had the interviews a Friday morning and had the card in Tuesday's mail.

butlerana, I wish you were with us as well as Jill. Thank you RuthC, Rita, bcnvcanada, and Jacqui for your comments.

Sorry I took so long to post. Despite my penchant for Crystal, I'm a bit of a cheapskate. I haven't been able to find cheap wifi here and the Fairmont charges as much for a day's access as I pay for 2 months at home. I waited until 24 hours before I leave the hotel to buy a day. It's even slower than on the ship.

Roy

[rafinmd]

My 7-hour final segment was on a United 747, and was lightly booked. I was on the inner aisle of 3-4-3 seating and the 2 seats to my right were both empty, typical of the rest of the plane. When we took off about 6PM there was no daylight left. I did not really sleep but did nap some during the flight. We pulled into the gate about 12:15 Singapore time without the reminder about emergency exits. Apparently it is a specifically Canadian requirement.

Immigration, baggage claim, and money exchange took about 45 minutes and I was in a taxi to my hotel. I was in bed about 1:30, quite exhausted.

I woke about 7 and spent most of the morning in the hotel. I did visit the HAL hospitality desk and arrange a transfer to the ship, which will be about 10AM Sunday. My window looks out on Marina Bay Sands complex. I am right across one street from the Raffles Hotel and another from the Japan War memorial. In the afternoon I rode the hopon busses. There are 3 loops, a cultural loop, a sentosa loop, and a city loop, a total of about 3 hours. I was quite satisfied today to stay on the bus, still pretty tired from yesterday.

As today's parting shot this is my second visit to Singapore. Close to the Equator, it is warm to hot year around. Since it rained in the morning the heat was not bad for the first day. For a mid-winter getaway it fits me perfectly as "a nice place to visit but I really wouldn't want to live there".

This post comes to you live from the Fairmont Singapore.

Roy

[RuthC]

Thanks for checking in, Roy. You will get over that long flight. You will! And you will forget how exhausting it was, how exhausted you are, when you board the ship, unpack, and settle in.
I can't imagine flying that far and needing to change planes. :eek:

[ScottishMaid]

Glad to hear from you and that you made it safely. I've been thinking of you on the long flights.
Please keep giving us a rain and temperature report.
Jill

[lagunaman]

I too which you Bon Voyage and feel sure that you will enjoy the ports here in Asia

I recently sailed 30 days on the Zaandam that included Xmas and had the best assistant Maitre of the many HAL ships I have sailed !

Raymond--- when you have a moment, please send him my very best wishes and tell him "Sawadee" (he also lives in Thailand ) from John in Phuket and give him my sincerest thanks for helping to make dining such a great pleasure for me and all my table mates

I read your Prinsendam reports--I am going on her for 16 days on April 6/12 from Istanbul (a real fav city of mine) to Rome--sailed her 4 years ago around the Black sea--hoping it will be just as pleasant an experience as it was back then

Look forward to reading your reports and really appreciate the effort people such as yourself make to keep us CC'ers happy :)



quote=rafinmd;32274195]I couldn't really see much difference in the procedure from my vantage. Perhaps the metal detectors are set to a little higher tolerance. To get the NEXUS card I had to go to a border station (Niagara Falls for me) for an interview with both US and Canadian immigration officers. It took about 6 weeks for the background checks from the time of my application until I was allowed to schedule the interviews. I also waited a long time for the interview since I live in Maryland and waited until my High School reunion in upstate New York to do it. After that it was very quick. I had the interviews a Friday morning and had the card in Tuesday's mail.

butlerana, I wish you were with us as well as Jill. Thank you RuthC, Rita, bcnvcanada, and Jacqui for your comments.

Sorry I took so long to post. Despite my penchant for Crystal, I'm a bit of a cheapskate. I haven't been able to find cheap wifi here and the Fairmont charges as much for a day's access as I pay for 2 months at home. I waited until 24 hours before I leave the hotel to buy a day. It's even slower than on the ship.

Roy[/quote]

[KirkNC]

Looking forward to your journey.

[rafinmd]

Glad to hear from you and that you made it safely. I've been thinking of you on the long flights.
Please keep giving us a rain and temperature report.
Jill

The day was for me near the upper limit of warm but not hot, with temperatures in the low 80's(F) or upper 20's(C). There was apparently quite a heavy rain shower while I was on the subway to the Harbor.

Thank you Kirk. lagunaman, I'll look for Raymond.

I was in bed about 9 Friday and woke up about 5 this morning. I again spent most of the morning in the hotel, but got more ambitious in the afternoon. Sentosa Island, I believe directly across the river from the cruise terminal, has become something of a theme park with an eclectic variety of attractions including a casino and Universal Studios.I walked along the waterfront past the Lion Statue and eventually cut inland to Chinatown, catching the subway out to the Harborfront station. From there it was about a mile to and across the causeway to Sentosa. Not really spending a lot of time there, I did visit the Maritime Experiential Museum and Aquarium. This exhibit deals mostly with the Silk Route and the water routes and cultures involved in the Silk Trade. The centerpiece of the museum is the dhow Jewel of Muscat. This ship was built as a joint project of Singapore and Oman using ancient plans and construction methods and sailed to Singapore in 1910. I returned on the Subway to Clarke Quay and walked back to the hotel. The museum was not great but between it and the walk it was a pleasant afternoon.

It's now time to start getting my stuff together for the move to the Zaandam Sunday morning. We are due to leave the hotel at 10AM, which I hope is a predictor of timely embarkation.

As a parting shot today, I've been surprised at how exhausting air travel can be. I got up this morning feeling pretty rested, but it didn't last. I took a rest after dinner, fell asleep, and had difficulty getting going again. At least tomorrow if that recurs, I'll be settled for the next 2 weeks.

This post comes to you live from the Fairmont Singapore.

Roy

[rafinmd]

I am aboard and will cover the day's activities in a separate post but will cover some extra things here.Embarkation was a bit chaotic with almost an hour and a half standing in line. I was aboard about 12:15 and enjoyed the Mariners luncheon.

One change in the muster drill I did not expect: we were told to assemble at our muster stations BEFORE the announced time of 4:15, rather than proceeding as the alarm was sounded. Once at the station a supervisor checked our names against a master list. At 4:15 they started calling cabin numbers, calling the last numbers several times. At the conclusion of the drill, a list of 4 cabins was read of people who refused to attend the drill. They were given the options of a makeup drill or leaving the ship. As of 4:50 it appeared 3 of those parties had complied with the makeup drill and 1 was given a final warning to comply or leave. At the drill it was announced there was no smoking in cabins, although the canned safety video still says “be careful when smoking, especially in your cabin”. I have not yet experienced whether that has resulted in increased smoking in common areas but I'll keep my eyes open.

Key personnel on board:
Captain: Andre von Schoonhoven
CD: Michael
Travel Guide: Spencer Brown
Piano Bar Guitar: Larry
Piano Bar Pianist: James
DJ: Colin
Shorex: Nyron
Party Planner: Elizabeth
Techspert:Kristen
Lifestylist:Meagan
Internet Manager:Jacques
Cabin stewards:Ketut & Triyanto

Finally, live from the MS Zaandam.

Roy

[kura]

Enjoying this....we board the Zaandam in Hong Kong on March 4th and do the itinerary in reverse!

Do you know the surname of Michael the CD?

Will be following this with great interest!

[rafinmd]

kura, I haven't been able to catch the surname.

I woke about 5AM, did the final packing of my big bag, and went for a walk about 7:15 to 8. There is an underground mall walkway between the City Hall complex and the Esplanade; I used that and walked around the convention center area and the Fountain of Wealth. I had been told to have my luggage ready to be picked up by 8. I didn't actually finish preparing my small bag, which I could have carried with me, until 8:30, but the bellman arrived about 9:15. I checked out of the hotel about 9:30. One of the things I did on the internet was register for Fairmont's "President's Club", and a pleasant surprise in checking out was that the enrollment exempted me from the $28 internet fee.

My 10AM transfer actually left about 10:25 and got us to the pier about 10:50. Checkin was slow, but I was on board about 12:15 and at the Mariners Luncheon by 12:30.

When we arrived we shared the pier with the Superstar Virgo, a ship run by NCL's Asian subsidiary. The Virgo left in early afternoon and was replaced about 5:00pm by the Pacific Venus.

The temperature was 80/27 and I did not see rain, although it did threaten several times.

Our Cruise Director Michael and Travel Guide Spencer gave an overview of the coming cruise in the Mondriaan Lounge at 3, and the emergency drill was held at 4:15. Enforcement of attendance at the drill has been toughened up following the Costa Concordia incident with 2 passengers warned to either show up for a makeup session or leave the ship. After the drill my room Steward Ketut came by to introduce himself and dropped off my luggage a few minutes later. I had upgraded from an inside room to an oceanview a week before the cruise and had not realized that the head of the bed would be right next to the window. During dinner Ketut separated the beds to twins with an open space in front of the window.

I prefer early seating but all that was available in advance was open seating. I have made a request for early fixed seating and hope to get moved Monday, but for tonight I was in open seating . Sailaway was scheduled for 6 and I was stationed at the gangway. The man who was to withdraw it got a call indicating it would be deferred to 7PM, so I went to dinner about 6:15, seated with an international group of 8.

There was a single welcome aboard show at 9:30 with introductions of the Explorations team, audience games, and some short numbers by the Zaandam Singers and Dancers. When I was on the Rotterdam 6 months ago, HAL was doing something new in shows with several singers and only 2 female dancers described as "bookends". This cast had 4 singers and 7 dancers, with the male and female dancers working together. I don't know if the "bookend" concept has been abandoned or is still coming to the Zaandam, but I much preferred what I saw last night.

I am definitely an early bird rather than a night owl, but I did stop by the Piano Bar for a few minutes on the way back to my room. James has been with HAL for about 2 years and was most recently on the Statendam, remembering a couple in the audience who had sailed with him. While I was there he performed 3 numbers, Paper Moon, Unforgettable and Bright Sunshiny Day.

As today's parting shot, I've said earlier that I was last on the Zaandam almost 10 years ago and remember very little about her. I still felt somewhat at home on boarding, not from memories coming back from that trip, but because she is so similar to the Rotterdam. I immediately pretty much knew my way around the ship but have seen 2 significant differences: The presence of an aft lido pool, and the lack of Lanai cabins. With respect to both differences, I prefer the Zaandam.

This post comes to you live from the MS Zaandam.

Roy

[madera1]

Enjoying reading your posts. Hope you have a great trip.

[rafinmd]

I rose at 5 and completed 5 miles on the Lower Promenade Deck about 7. There are a relatively small number of Americans on board this cruise so the super bowl party was at 7:30 AM in the Wajang Theater. I am not really a football fan and would have watched if events had turned out differently in Boston 2 weeks ago, but stopped in only briefly around 8 and at the end of the game. My cabin is directly under the Wajang Theater and if noise from there was ever going to spill over to my room it would have been when somebody scored in the game but I heard nothing.

This morning was pretty busy. Captain van Shoonhoven was the guest on "Good Morning Zaandam" and talked about the process of becoming a Captain and life at sea. Most of the questions he fielded concerned the recent changes to the muster drill and the process is still being tweaked. Immediately afterwards at 10 we had our Cruise Critic meet and mingle in the Crows Nest. About 20 members were present and coffee and cookies were served. Both Michael and the Captain were present. Captain van Shoonhoven now lives in the Philippines. He will go on leave at the end of this voyage and is looking forward to having a short flight home. He reported that he does not like having his sons on the ship as they get spoiled by "600 aunts and uncles and 1400 grandparents". There was also some not so welcome news. Despite it being a 14-day cruise, we do not have a Protestant Chaplain, and the "bookends" are coming to the Zaandam in the fall.

In his midday announcement Captain Andre reported a temperature of 81/27 with a possibility of showers.

Our travel guide Spencer was under the weather today but gave 2 presentations, one on Ko Samui in the morning and a second on Laem Chebang in the afternoon.


Shortly before dinner the Captain came on the PA with a message, primarily for crew but also of general interest, about the earthquake in the Philippines. Later information at the evening toast indicated few if any of the crew were seriously affected by the quake; we hope that word does not change. The first formal night had everyone very well dressed in the dining room. I am still in flexible dining; my table of 6 tonight had an excellent dinner.

This evening's show was "Love, Broadway" by the Zaandam Singers and Dancers.
Today's parting shot takes me back to the early days of the super bowl. In my younger days I liked to ski and when the super bowl was in the afternoon it was one of the best days of the season for skiing. The lodge would be packed with portable televisions but the slopes would be uncrowded with no lift lines. Having the super bowl in the daytime reminded me of those great ski days. Congratulations to the Giants.

This post comes to you live from the MS Zaandam, rather than from the only city in the world (I think) to have won both a Lombardi Trophy and a Gray Cup.

Roy

[ScottishMaid]

Hi Roy,
Thanks for the interesting reports,
The Roll Calls were slow on all the Zaandam Asia cruises so I'm not surprised there are few Americans on board.
What nationalities are you meeting? Australians? UK? Dutch? Germans?
On investigating flight times I noted Singapore and Hong Kong are closer to London than LA, let alone the East Coast.
The 14 day cruise was advertized in one of the main UK newspapers as an inclusive package with air and 3 hotel days at either end.
Jill

[RuthC]

There was also some not so welcome news. Despite it being a 14-day cruise, we do not have a Protestant Chaplain, and the "bookends" are coming to the Zaandam in the fall.
Please humor my ignorance (or is it a brain cramp?), but what do you mean by "bookends"?

[jonja]

Hope you have a lovely trip Roy. We are a group of four going on the same trip end of March so will be waiting for your reports with great interest. Bon voyage.

[rafinmd]

RuthC, "bookends" are the name I've seen used occasionally on this forum for the reduced company of 2 dancers.

We gained an hour overnight as we entered Thailand. I actually rose about 4:45 and cut my on deck walk to 3 miles (12 laps) finishing about 6:35. While I was in the Lido for breakfast we suddenly lost all power. Power was restored about 10 minutes later and the Captain promised more information on the cause at sailaway[it was a power surge which coincided with cutting back from several engines in sailing mode to just 1 for power while at anchor]. We were cleared at 7:45 for tendering with expected temperatures of 82/28.


Ko Samui is an island about 20 miles off the eastern Thai coast. The population is about 50,000 and the major industries are fishing and coconut farming. This is my second visit here; the first was on a segment of the Queen Victoria World cruise from Bangkok to Dubai in 2010.

My excursion was Saumi Sights. We boarded a local boat for the trip to shore at Na Thon, and were met by our guide Kevin. Most of the tours in Ko Samui were done in small vans, and 8 of us piled into a very nice van which made 3 stops. We first visited a coconut farm where we saw coconuts stripped of their outer layers and processed. The outermost layers are thick but soft fiber and are mostly burned. The inner shell is more rigid and contains the meat on the inside along with a thin fluid. The trees take about 5 years to bear fruit and then have a useful life of about 30 years, producing coconuts year round. We continued on around the island to Ban Hua Thanon, a fishing village where we walked through the local market and came out at another coconut grove. The actual picking of the coconuts is done by trained macaque monkeys. The monkeys climb the trees and twist the coconuts until the torque breaks the stem and the coconut falls to the ground. A good monkey can pick about 8 coconuts per minute. Our final stop was at the Big Buddha on the Northeast corner of the island. This huge statue is about 35 feet tall and sits on a platform about the same height. The gold-colored structure is quite impressive. We had about a half hour here with time for shopping for those who desired it, then returned to the pier about 12:30. I did explore Na Tran a bit but did not find a lot of interest and the sidewalks were narrow, disappearing in many places.

This was really the first day the heat got to me, and I got back to the Zaandam about 2:30. I did not have a real lunch today, with snacks at the Big Buddha, on return to the ship, and at afternoon tea.

We left Ko Samui behind on schedule at 5 with dinner 45 minutes later, and an evening performance by vocalist Preston Coe.

I'm afraid no parting shot tonight; if there was one it would probably be about how tiring tropical heat can be.

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam.

Roy

[hal lover]

Thanks so much for your live posts. I feel like I'm there! Enjoy! I always liked the Zaandam.

[RuthC]

RuthC, "bookends" are the name I've seen used occasionally on this forum for the reduced company of 2 dancers.
Thanks for the explanation. The fewer number of dancers was part of the Showroom at Sea on a Veendam cruise. I liked the performances very much. The calibre of the singers, and the composition of the show, were so much better than formerly.

I liked reading about your port today. This is an area of the world I am sure I will never visit.
I agree so much with your observation about how tiring it is to tour in the heat, which is one of the reasons I won't visit there! :D

[Raring to go]

Enjoying this....we board the Zaandam in Hong Kong on March 4th and do the itinerary in reverse!

Do you know the surname of Michael the CD?

Will be following this with great interest!


We just got off of the Zaandam on February 5th. What a great trip! The CD's surname is Headla.

[kura]

We just got off of the Zaandam on February 5th. What a great trip! The CD's surname is Headla.

Thank you for that...
Did you enjoy the cruise?

[Raring to go]

Thank you for that...
Did you enjoy the cruise?

It was a wonderful cruise. The ship definitely shows that it will be going into dry dock soon, but we took the trip for the itenary, not for the ship. Food, shows and service were excellent. We had a fire alarm go off in the laundry, some shipwide plumbing problems (nothing happened when you flushed, but no problem...it would flush 5 minutes later) and 5 passengers and 3 crew develop stomach problems from eating street food in Viet Nam, but those kind of things just happen some time, and the Zaandam handled the situations very well.

[erewhon]

Roy,

Thank you for your live reports, which I am enjoying reading.
Was also curious about the term "bookends".
Was the Saumi excursion a 4 hour tour? Did you take bottled water with you?

[IRL_Joanie]

I may have come in late to the cruise Roy, But I made it!! I was going to email you and ask when you took the photos you sent me yesterday, but now I know!! I will get those up tomorrow!!

I am so excited for you and so green with envy that you are doing such a glorious cruise!!

My friend, you stay safe and have a wonderful time!!

I am going to be glued to your thread until you get home and give us the final review:)

Joanie

[JCruisepal]

Hi Roy
Enjoying reading your threads. Sounds like you had a tiring day

Do you know if there was there anywhere local to get to when the ship docked at Ko Samui?
My friend and I are planning to do our own thing when we arrive and just wondered what to expect. How near to local beaches etc

Were there plenty of taxis available.

Did you have to use tenders from ship to port? Was this very time consuming?
Regards
Jane

[rafinmd]

Hi Roy
Enjoying reading your threads. Sounds like you had a tiring day

Do you know if there was there anywhere local to get to when the ship docked at Ko Samui?
My friend and I are planning to do our own thing when we arrive and just wondered what to expect. How near to local beaches etc

Were there plenty of taxis available.

Did you have to use tenders from ship to port? Was this very time consuming?
Regards
Jane

It seems to me there "taxis" available and beaches within easy reach, but I'm not 100% sure. If Spencer is still your travel guide you have great advice there.

I will be slow responding to your posts. With satellite internet I don't spend much time looking at the thread live, but get a daily email subscription. Cruise Critic sends me this about 3AM Eastern time, but that becomes mid-afternoon here so I don't typically see comments until the next day. If I can respond without thought in a few words I will, but usually there will be a 24-48 hour delay. Rather than the usual Cruise Critic format for quotes they will likely look something like this:

Posted by: ScottishMaid
On: February 6th, 2012 10:11 AM

Hi Roy,
Thanks for the interesting reports,
The Roll Calls were slow on all the Zaandam Asia cruises so I'm not surprised there are few Americans on board.
What nationalities are you meeting? Australians? UK? Dutch? Germans?
On investigating flight times I noted Singapore and Hong Kong are closer to London than LA, let alone the East Coast.
The 14 day cruise was advertized in one of the main UK newspapers as an inclusive package with air and 3 hotel days at either end.
Jill
************

There are a lot of Aussies, Kiwis, a fair number from the UK, a number of Asians (I think mostly Singapore and Hong Kong), and there seems to be a group from perhaps Russia. There’s a big note board with something that looks to me like their characters.



Posted by: RuthC
On: February 7th, 2012 10:54 AM


---Quote (Originally by rafinmd)---
RuthC, "bookends" are the name I've seen used occasionally on this forum for the reduced company of 2 dancers.
---End Quote---
Thanks for the explanation. The fewer number of dancers was part of the Showroom at Sea on a Veendam cruise. I liked the performances very much. The calibre of the singers, and the composition of the show, were so much better than formerly.

I liked reading about your port today. This is an area of the world I am sure I will never visit.
I agree so much with your observation about how tiring it is to tour in the heat, which is one of the reasons I won't visit there! :D
************

RuthC, I'm finding that as I get older my tolerance for heat is decreasing so I want to see this part of the world before that gets any worse. I skipped the parting shot yesterday, but thought one from my Queen Victoria world cruise segment might bear repeating. To set the stage, the itinerary was Bangkok to Dubai, and I combined it with a crossing from LA to Sydney on the Crystal Symphony just 3 days earlier, so I still enjoyed the service but there was a rather sudden culture shock. I said then:

Today's parting shot has it's origins in the Britannia Dining Room. I have 2 tablemates who admittedly are fans of Oceania Cruises. They don't like dressing up for dinner, and it seems to them that Cunard can do nothing right. The first night they complained constantly, and they did have some legitimate concerns, but when they were quickly corrected the complaints became a constant "well, they should have done it the other way from the start". I hate to say this, but I was not disappointed that they rarely showed up for dinner. This negativity was the last thing I needed while making the adjustment from spectacular service on Crystal to excellent/superb service from Cunard. If you have spectacular service, revel in the ecstasy. Given superb service savor the splendor. If the service is excellent cherish the glory. If it is good love the experience. If less than good, I think I agree with Capnpugwash that a poor day at sailing beats a good day ashore, but have limited experience to make that comparison. I think I first heard this from Harry Morgan as Col. Potter on MASH, but it could easily have been Casey Stengell: "If you aren't where you are, you're nowhere".

Roy


Posted by: Raring to go
On: February 7th, 2012 01:52 PM


---Quote (Originally by kura)---
Enjoying this....we board the Zaandam in Hong Kong on March 4th and do the itinerary in reverse!

Do you know the surname of Michael the CD?

Will be following this with great interest!
---End Quote---


We just got off of the Zaandam on February 5th. What a great trip! The CD's surname is Headla.
************
Thanks
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=32327082#post32327082
Posted by: kura
On: February 7th, 2012 04:01 PM


---Quote (Originally by Raring to go)---
We just got off of the Zaandam on February 5th. What a great trip! The CD's surname is Headla.
---End Quote---

Thanks, Kura. I was going to say "something like Hebler", so I'm glad you got the correct information. Our travel guide Spencer was under the weather Monday so we saw recordings of the talks he gave you on Thailand.

I have uploaded video of the monkeys harvesting coconuts on Ko Samui. It’s here:

http://youtu.be/i6mp0l1jbHE

Roy

[rafinmd]

I was up about 4:45 and completed my 3 miles about 6. I missed sunrise, which I think was enshrouded in haze anyway, but there was a beautiful full moon while I was walking. We pulled into Laem Chebang about 7:30 and the ship was cleared about 8:15. This is the Gateway to Bangkok, but it is about 2 hours away by bus. The port itself is a very busy container port with just a lonely terminal building in the midst of all the cranes. Since I stayed in Bangkok 2 years ago before the Queen Victoria, this time I am touring in the local area. Tomorrow I will visit a tiger zoo, but today's tour is "A day in the Thai countryside".

I had trouble understanding Pop. I think part of the problem was a poor sound system on the bus, but also his diction was nowhere near as good as Kevin’s. We made several stops, first visiting a shop where artisans were carving marble. The person we saw was making mortars for mortar and pestle sets. Pop said he could do 4 an hour making 10 baht on each one, of 400 baht in a 10-hour day (USD13), relatively good wages in Thailand.

We visited a market where fishermen had stalls on the pier to sell their fresh catch, drove through a beach resort, and had lunch at a nice hotel on the beach. In the afternoon we stopped at a Buddhist temple presented to Thailand by Chinese Buddhists in the 1990's, and stopped at Chee-Jan Mountain where a Buddha outline was carved into the side of the mountain. We had a mid-afternoon refreshment stop before the obligatory shopping stop at a gem gallery and returned to the Zaandam just after 6.

Rather tired, I chose not to dine with others tonight, and the service in the Rotterdam dining room was quite prompt. With many guests having long tour days, and more spending the night in Bangkok, this evening’s entertainment was the movie “Bitter/Sweet” which I was happy to pass up.

Today’s parting shot is in solidarity with the many crew people from the Philippines. From the little I’ve seen, the quake could have been much worse than appears to be the case. May the death toll stay fairly low and survivors be quickly rescued.

Wifi is cheap here in the terminal but it's terrible. I may be better off using it from the ship

Roy

[kura]

[quote=rafinmd;32336776] ......If Spencer is still your travel guide you have great advice there.

We had a "Spencer' as travel guide last year on the Veendam up the Amazon...do hope it is the same one as he was excellent.

[rafinmd]

[quote=rafinmd;32336776] ......If Spencer is still your travel guide you have great advice there.

We had a "Spencer' as travel guide last year on the Veendam up the Amazon...do hope it is the same one as he was excellent.

I don't know if this helps or not, but it's Spencer Brown./

Roy

[ScottishMaid]

The Spencer we had two years ago on the Veendam San Diego to Cape Horn was a young guy from Victoria Canada. He had been hired for the Alaska season for his wildlife and glacier knowledge and they kept him on the ship. He had never been to South America so was under tremendous pressure to make the presentations for every port.
He was so nice and it turned out that one of our CC members had been his teacher in elementary school.
So glad he is still employed and well regarded by the passengers.

[kura]

[quote=kura;32344342]

I don't know if this helps or not, but it's Spencer Brown./

Roy


Thanks. YES! I just looked up the "Explorers" I kept from the ship and one of them had an article on him and it is Spencer Brown....do hope he will still be on on the 4th March cruise!

[rafinmd]

When at port I usually prefer to walk ashore rather than the Promenade deck, but the facilities at Laem Chebang don’t really support that and it was back on the Promenade deck. I finished 3 miles about 6:30 and then went to breakfast.

My tour today was “Tiger Zoo”. This is a bit of a misnomer as they feature a number of animals and it’s as much a theme park as a zoo. We arrived a little after 9 and had just over an hour of free time before the shows started. The primary animals they have are pigs, elephants, crocodiles, and of course tigers. There are opportunities to have pictures taken with the animals and to feed them, but what I found most interesting was their success with mixing the animals. In one room a large sow was lying down nursing 2 piglets and 2 tiger cubs, while in another a tiger was watching over other piglets.

http://zaandamasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/tigerzoo.pdf

At 10:30 the shows began. The crocodile show was first, with trainers putting their hands and heads into the animals open mouths. I found it daring and unusual but not all that entertaining. The tiger show was next but actually started with some displays by the pigs, which seem to be fairly intelligent. In one case there were 4 colored boxes and 4 dowels, and a pig quite quickly picked up the dowels and placed them quickly in the appropriately colored boxes. The tiger portion of the show was pretty much what was expected with tigers mostly jumping through hoops, sometimes flaming. As most days the temperature was about 80/27 with high humidity. The shaded theaters tended to be welcome resting places but the tiger theater was more enclosed and the heat buildup was more noticeable.

The final performance was the elephant show. The elephants did some unexpected things like walking across a pair of stretched cables (2-3 feet apart) for a distance of about 75 feet, and a nice display of dart throwing with their trunks.

We returned to the ship about 1PM, just after the dining room closed but at a good time for lunch on the lido deck. All aboard was 3:30 and Spencer gave his talk on Cambodia at 4.

The evening’s entertainment was Pingxin Xu on the hammer dulcimer. The instrument looks a bit like a xylophone and sounds a lot like a banjo. Unfortunately, I fell asleep after dinner and only rushed to the theater for about the last 3 numbers after waking up.

Today’s parting shot goes back to the tiger zoo, and I’m afraid I just about lost my cool with one of my fellow cruisers. I kind of heard somebody complaining about the shop not accepting US dollars and paid little attention until he got closer to me and said something like “Do you speak English? Can you believe they won’t take US dollars?” as if there was something I was supposed to do about it. Somewhat dumbfounded, my only reply was “Well of course we are not in the US”. I think if his attitude was different I might have been moved to offer to exchange a bit of money but it just didn’t seem right. It’s great that most merchants will take out money but I can just imagine the response if someone walked into one of our stores and offered 80 baht for a coke. This was our 3rd day in Thailand; it seems only reasonable to have a bit of local currency on hand or to accept the limitations not having it involves. This was not my day. A few minutes later I bought tea and stopped at a table. I was almost finished when a couple (not from the ship) asked if they could also sit at the table. I said fine, but did not feel so fine when a few seconds later without any more words they each pulled out a pack of cigarettes. We often have great arguments about smoking on the ships, but here again most of the smoking issues I see seem to come up on shore, outside the cruise lines’ span of control.

This post comes to you live from the MS Zaandam

Roy

[rafinmd]

Posted by: Raring to go
On: February 7th, 2012 01:52 PM


---Quote (Originally by kura)---
Enjoying this....we board the Zaandam in Hong Kong on March 4th and do the itinerary in reverse!

Do you know the surname of Michael the CD?

Will be following this with great interest!
---End Quote---


We just got off of the Zaandam on February 5th. What a great trip! The CD's surname is Headla.
************

Michael Hedla's biography appears on the cover page of the current Explorer. It is (or very soon will be) posted here:

http://zaandamasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/explorer11.pdf

Like the last several days, I rose about 5 and completed 3 miles on the Promenade Deck about 6:30. We pulled into the dock at Sihanoukville about 7:15, across the pier from the Seabourn Pride. My tour, Sihanoukville and environs, was scheduled for 8:30 and we were cleared for disembarkation just as I was making my way to the Mondriaan Lounge.

Up to now the ports (Singapore, Ko Samui, and Laem Chebang) have all been repeats from my Queen Victoria voyage. Today marks the beginning of ports I see the first time; I will not see familiar territory again until my plane lands in Chicago. This day brings a revitalized sense of adventure.

Cambodia has a rich history but it has been seriously scarred by about a 30 year period of terror under the reign of Pol Pot. Over the course of his reign millions of people were slaughtered including most of the country's professionals as he tried to bring the country to a strict agricultural economy.

Our guide was Virak. His english was strained but he generally got his points across. He took us first to the Intra Ngean Pagoda where about 150 monks live and study among a number of small buildings for cremains and a fairly large temple. We went on to Ochheuteal Beach, a lovely but crowded beach resort where we were treated to welcome beverages. The area has a lot of lovely beach resorts, but they seem to be extremely commercialized.

We visited the central market. It is very large with hundreds of stalls selling everything from food to clothing to building materials. The smell was rather strong and I walked around a bit more of the downtown area, passing a primary school just as it was getting out. We made a final stop at a fishing settlement near the pier. Sihanoukville has a population of about 90,000, including just under 1000 families in the fishing business. These small boats go out daily about 5pm and come back early the following morning. We returned to the ship in time for lunch.

I took an early afternoon walk out of the marina. There were a number of shops and restaurants right outside the waterfront but none grabbed my interest and the heat and humidity were getting pretty oppressive, although the actual temperature was only about 82/28. Afternoon tea with a nice scone revived my body and spirits.

All aboard was at 4:30 and everyone (aside from those doing the overland Ankor Wat adventure) was onboard promptly. We pulled away just before 5, exchanging several horn salutes with the Seabourn Pride.

I had a wonderful Cornish Game hen and Tiramisu for dinner followed by the vocal stylings of Annie Francis in the Mondriaan Lounge.

Today's parting shot comes from a sign on the Monks' residence at the Intra Ngean Pagoda, "A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation and a peaceful nation makes a peaceful world". So may it be.

Roy

[kura]

I look forward to your post every day.....thanks for posting the Daily Explorer...gives us more to look forward to! Your CD is not the Micheal I was thinking of....I think the Michael I was thinking of was actually a DJ.

[kazu]

Thanks so much for your reports Roy. I always enjoy following them :)

Totally hear you on people not having local currency. I always find it amazing when people expect to use their own currency in other countries.

[rafinmd]

With a sea day I returned to a 5-mile morning walk. I also did laundry so combining the 2 activities extended my walk to about 7:30. The weather doesn't seem to change much, today is sunny and 82/28. The day was perfect for a leisurely breakfast on the Zaandam's aft lido deck, although I must confess I had some longings for the superb counterpart on the Prinsendam. At his midday update the Captain mentioned that we are traveling on the Continental shelf (about 25 miles from the Vietnam Peninsula), and the water depth of about 20 meters pretty well assures mild sea conditions.

The morning was particularly busy, starting with an interview with the engineering and facilities officers on Good Morning Zaandam, Spencer's talk on Phu My, and a tour of the Zaandam galley. The afternoon was a bit less hectic with Spencer's talk on Nha Trang (sadly for my successors, Spencer will be leaving the ship for now in Hong Kong), and a wonderful Australian Tea time. It was busy somewhat behind the scenes for the crew as well, with a fire drill running mid-morning.

The second formal night of the voyage had everyone looking very nice. I had a lovely dinner with people from Australia, the UK, and Ohio. The evening entertainment was the Zaandam Singers and Dancers with Southern nights. We arrive in Phu My at 6am Sunday with a 9-hour tour starting at 6:30, so I’ll retire especially early this evening.

As my parting shot, each cruise has some unpleasant tasks. Tonight I had to turn in my departure plans for Hong Kong. It seems much too early to be thinking about that.

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam

Roy

[RuthC]

As my parting shot, each cruise has some unpleasant tasks. Tonight I had to turn in my departure plans for Hong Kong. It seems much too early to be thinking about that.
Doncha just hate it when you feel you have barely arrived and it's time to think about leaving. :(

Thanks for the ongoing reports.

[KirkNC]

Wow, coconut picking monkeys, who would have guessed that. Thanks for the updates on your journey. Sounds like your open dining is turning out ok.

[kura]

Sorry to hear Spencer is leaving the ship.....we enjoyed his talks when in S America. However....we have been to most of the places on this cruise already....not on a cruise, but have spent time travelling in the countries. The most recent was 3 weeks in Vietnam 2 years ago, abd are really looking forward to another day in Saigon. I see on your itinerary you go to Da Nang which we dont. From Da Nang it is easy to get to Hoi An.....one of our favourite and most interesting towns in Asia...wish we were going there!

[erewhon]

Roy,
Am enjoying reading your reports.

Seems it's too difficult for some folk to obtain the currency of the country they are visiting.

[rafinmd]

Phu My has little to offer in itself, but is the gateway to Saigon, somewhat over 2 hours away. Our dock was at quite a new container port, but there was no evidence of actual container activity. We had an early morning arrival and when I went up to the lido for breakfast just after 5 we were already secured. With my tour leaving at 6:30 I had time for just over a mile before departure.

The tour I booked was of the CuChi tunnels in an area just past Saigon. The site is only 50 miles from the pier, but the drive was very slow and took about 2 1/2 hours. What seemed amazing to me is that I had always thought of Vietnam as a rural country and the entire route seemed to be an almost continuous line of urban sprawl.

When we arrived a little after 9 our first tunnel was a big one, under the highway from the parking lot to the exhibits. There were a number of displays related to the war, including a burned out tank, various booby traps, vents disguised as rocks, and replicas of rooms used for meetings, dining, cooking, hospital, and munitions and uniform making. These rooms were all originally underground but are now about shoulder height below grade with thatched roofs. At one point a young man dressed as a soldier demonstrated getting into and our of the original concealed entrances to the tunnels. At one stop we had a firing range where visitors could try their hands at either an M-16 or an AK-47. Our final stop was a small theater where a "documentary" was shown. Our HAL documentation had warned somewhat blandly that "The information is presented from a Vietnamese perspective"; our guide was more blunt, using the term "propaganda" film. I was prepared for the worst and ended up with a mixed reaction. The commentary was at least as biased as I expected, but the quality of the film clearly indicated it was produced at the time of the war and was what would be expected from a wartime film. The contrast between the welcoming attitude of the people today and what we saw in the film was quite striking.

We left about 11:30 for a short drive to a local restaurant, on an island on a small river. As we ate our lunch we watched a constant stream of floating vegetation flowing past us on the stream. The guide later explained that this happened with the tides here, floating one way at high tide and the opposite way approaching low tide.

We arrived back at the Zaandam about 3, in time for Tea and Scone in the dining room. All aboard was 4:30 and we set sail just before 5, sailing down the river past P&O Arcadia. There was no program for Protestants on this sailing, a "do-it-yourself" service was held at 5 in the Hudson Room. Tonight's dinner (prime rib) was shared with 2 ladies from San Francisco and a couple from Hamilton, Ontario. The mail in the room when I returned included information on the Mariners Brunch and On Deck for the Cure, both of which will be on our next sea day, February 14.

This evening's show was "The Music and Mayhem of Davie Howes". Howes sings and plays many instruments, primarily piano and trumpet but also improvised instruments like a garden hose. He performed a wide variety of music, including a spectacular set of variations on Bach's Toccata in D in the style of Oscar Peterson. I'm not familiar with Peterson but greatly enjoyed that piece and the rest of the show. He challenged the audience to nominate some objects around the ship he could adapt as musical instruments in the final variety show.

After living through our Vietnam war, I am finally here. My parting shot for today: Let us neither forget the past nor live in it.

Roy

[rafinmd]

Thanks, RuthC, kazu, kura, and erewhon.

Posted by: KirkNC
On: February 11th, 2012 02:26 PM

Wow, coconut picking monkeys, who would have guessed that. Thanks for the updates on your journey. Sounds like your open dining is turning out ok.
************
Kirk, while I'm living with the open dining it's still a sore point. What is really frustrating is that my request for a change never even got the courtesy of a reply. I expected better than that and my comments card will show it. I see this as a case of making lemons out of lemonade as I did tonight; I really want to try Seabourn which not only is all open dining but the MDR doesn't even open until 7:30, so I'll survive 2 weeks of this ok.

I returned this morning to 3-mile walks on the promenade deck, finishing about 6:30. The wind was quite brisk, and there was a lovely sunrise about 6:15. The weather hasn't changed much, it's still about 82/28, sunny, and windy. We pulled into Na Trang harbor about 8:30.

We never really left Nha Trang today, but the view from the sail-in was more what I expected Vietnam to look like with mountains and massive green spaces. Our path took us under the route of a cable car which we seemed to clear fairly closely. Captain Andre reported yesterday we had an arrival window where there would be no cars on the cable segment we passed under. Clearances can be deceptive but I think a passing gondola would have had at least a chance of striking one of our masts. The cable car, supposedly the world's longest over water, leads to an island used as a theme park.

My tour this morning was Na Trang highlights. We left the pier about 9:45, driving north along the shore, a beautiful beach which was a bit treacherous because the bottom here drops very abruptly. About 5 miles north of the ship we crossed the Chi river and stopped at the Po Nagar Cham towers, a site where several tower pagodas sit on a 30-meter hill with sweeping views of the city. We continued to Long Son Pagoda with 2 stunning Buddhas, first a massive reclining Buddha, and at the top a lovely white seated Buddha. Getting to the top is a bit of a challenge with 152 steps but worth the climb. Surrounding the top statue is a large bank of crypts.

We paused at a restaurant on the beach where there was an opportunity for a brief swim or a refreshing midday beverage, passing the train station and Cathedral (Na Trang, population 800,000, is about 5% Roman Catholic). Our final stop was at an embroidery shop where we saw ladies making (and of course had a chance to buy) embroidered pictures. We returned to the ship about 1:50 in time for a somewhat late lunch.

I took a mid-afternoon walk around the waterfront of the city. I had intended to ride the gondola but realized too late that I had left my camera on the ship, and returned to the Zaandam for afternoon tea. I passed a number of shops on the 2-mile walk, but none of real interest.

This evening was something of a departure from my norm. We had a local group come on presenting "Traditions of Vietnam", and they had to disembark before we left so their shows were 7 and 9PM. The Indonesian crew show was at 11. In place of the normal Lido buffet there was an on-deck barbecue, and I had an early snack of corn and grilled potatoes at the normal dinner time. I went to the Rotterdam Dining room after the 7PM local show (Veal medallions) and stayed up past my usual bedtime for the crew show. Not a typical night for me on the Zaandam.

Today's parting shot will be unrelated to cruising. Upsetting news eventually comes even to this side of the world. It's a shame our celebrities seem to have difficulty keeping their personal lives on track with drugs and other things claiming too many before their time. Whitney Houston, it is far too soon for you to leave.

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam

Roy

[aliaschief]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your live reports. Definitely a bucket list cruise. Thank you for sharing your cruise with all of us.

[rafinmd]

Thanks, aliaschief. I'm so glad to be able to do this before I'm too old to enjoy it with the heat. I think I've also noticed that Zaandam is definitely underrepresented in live reports.

I cheated a bit more than usual today on the Walk for the Cure. I usually cut my morning walk to 3 miles when I know I'll be walking 3 miles (technically 5K) in the afternoon, but today the walk was at 1:30 and Spencer's presentation on Sanya was at 2, so I did the full 5 miles in the morning and left the group with On Deck For the Cure after just a mile. It is just a bit cooler today at 77/25, and still with a brisk wind. After the late show last night I slept an extra half hour this morning and completed my 5 miles just before 8.

Spencer briefed us on the remaining Vietnam ports at 10AM. We visit Da Nang tomorrow (Wednesday) and Hulong Bay on Friday. The morning was capped off with my first Mariner Brunch as a 2-star at 11:30. A number of people were recognized for their extensive cruise history including a few with 900+ nights, making my 50 nights pretty puny by comparison.

[Question for HAL regulars: I believe there was talk of medallions, and I thought I heard the first medallion was copper for 100 days, starting the medallion program just at halfway to the 4-star level. Is this correct? If so, is that actual nights or do bonus nights count?]

On Deck for the Cure came at 1:30, although I left it early. There were perhaps 100 walkers (including 4 breast cancer survivors) and perhaps another hundred spectators. Sanya remains a challenging port, with apparently different conditions imposed by the authorities each visit. Spencer has not actually been allowed off the ship yet; in fact few if any crew have been allowed ashore. It promises to be an interesting visit. As the talk was ending, the Walk for the Cure was also ending with refreshments served. The walk was accompanied by pulsating music but the volume was kept to a moderate level.

Deborah Buchanan gave a presentation of future cruises in the Wajang Theater. Apparently, 2012 will be the last of the Alaska cruises out of Seattle, although the reason was not clear. She thought the reason itineraries are being released later than usual was the turmoil in various parts of the world including parts of Europe, resulting in delays to evaluate possible ports of call. The presentation ended just in time to enjoy tea and one of the many lovely offerings of the cupcake tea time.

A festive formal dinner was served in the Rotterdam Dining Room. I did see a few scattered people in less than formal wear but overall everyone looked very nice. The evening entertainment was again provided by the Zaandam Singers and Dancers with "Unforgettable".

As today's parting shot, I am ahead of most people sitting West of the International Dateline, so a happy Valentines Day to all. If I am not mistaken as Valentines day ends here it is just beginning in North America.

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam.

Roy

[kazu]

[Question for HAL regulars: I believe there was talk of medallions, and I thought I heard the first medallion was copper for 100 days, starting the medallion program just at halfway to the 4-star level. Is this correct? If so, is that actual nights or do bonus nights count?]

Roy - no the bonus nights do not count. I received my 100 day when I hit the 100 days - I had more 'mariner' days than that, but definitely they only counted the actual days at sea for the medallion - at least for us.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your very interesting reports.

re the medallion program, the Copper Medallions are awarded for actual days sailed.

I contacted the Mariner Society enquiring about the medallions after we achieved over the required 100 days sailing, with no recognition on board the ship during the cruise.
Received a very pleasant reply, and the medallions were mailed out to us by international post.
I had thought that the Mariner Society would make sure we received the medallions during our next cruise, we did not expect to have the medallions posted out to us.

[rafinmd]

Thanks, kazu and erewhon.

When I went out for my walk there seemed to be a fog or haze making a really dark morning although it burned off by sunrise. We picked up our pilot about 6:15 and tied up about 7. As we get further North it is starting to cool down a bit and the days are now about a half hour shorter than they were in Singapore.

Da Nang was a major US base during the Vietnam war and also an R&R site for our troops including the area depicted in China Beach. I chose instead to visit the Imperial City of Hue. Hue served as the capitol of Vietnam in the early 19th century. It is about 50 miles North of Da Nang, but traffic on Vietnam roads is very slow and the journey was about 2 1/2 hours each way. That only left time for 2 sightseeing stops of about an hour each.

The Imperial Citadel was built in 1804-1833. The scale and concept of the place is very reminiscent of Bejing's Forbidden City but unfortunately is not so well preserved. Entrance is through a succession of walls and moats, still very impressive, but many of the buildings are now only memories. The Citadel was occupied by the Viet Cong for 24 days during the Tet offensive, and the resulting fighting was devastating to the historic buildings. A lovely ceremonial palace and some long walks have either been preserved or rebuilt, the theater is dilapidated but still intact, but the residences of the King and his wives and concubines are now just outlines on the ground. Despite all that has been lost it is still an impressive site.

We left the Citadel for lunch at Hue's Century Riverside, a lovely buffet with a serenade by a local musical group.

Our second stop was the tomb of Tu Duc, built in the 1840's, Tu Duc ruled for about 35 years. He had no heirs, likely as a result of contracting Chicken Pox as a youth. His chosen successors, 3 nephews, squabbled with each other and had a reign of only 3 days. There were several succeeding Kings, but they were only figureheads, as the French consolidated control of the country following Tu Duc's death. The tomb is very plain and unimpressive but sits in the middle of gardens which were at least originally magnificent. Tu Duc loved the gardens and spent much of his summers there. The site was undamaged in the war but the hot, damp climate has taken a severe toll.

All aboard was 4:30, but we did not reach the ship until about 4:50. As I reached my room the Captain announced that we would be leaving soon but were still waiting for 3 of my tour's busses. We actually sailed about 5:15.

Tonight's headline entertainment was pianist "Count Dimas" from Transylvania. He actually also played the accordion and some homemade instruments. He played a variety of music including classical, folk, and Gershwin, but took enough liberties that much of what he played would better be described as "variations on Gershwin", etc. It was a very pleasant mix of familiar music with a new, fresh touch.

There will not be a lot of sleep tonight. We lose an hour as we sail to China tomorrow and we have the Filipino Crew Show at 11 (or should we say midnight?).

As today's parting shot I will miss today one of the HAL features I enjoyed on the Rotterdam, moving the clocks forward midday rather than overnight. I guess that's a bit tough to do when you leave 1 time zone at 5PM and enter the next just 13 hours later.

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam.

Roy

[IRL_Joanie]

I am absolutely loving your reviews/reports Roy!!

I just have one question for you regarding Tu Duc's burial gardens. Why has the damp/humid weather taken such a toll?? Is it the type of floweres/fauna that was planted or something else?

Joanie

[rafinmd]

Joainie, as I understand the explanation, some form of moss forms on the structures in the cool, rainy season, and the summer heat "burns" the moss, seriously blackening the structure. It looks almost covered in soot. Also, a lot of the stones are somewhat misplaced, probably erosion due to the rainy season.

Wednesday evening's crew show was wonderful but lightly attended, as the late hour combined with the lost hour were a difficult combination. I rose at 5 and completed my 3 miles at 6:15, with the pilot boarding the ship about 5:45. The weather was pleasant for the walk but a drizzle started about the time we docked and lasted for about an hour.

Sanya sits at the south end of Hainan Island, the largest Chinese island other than Taiwan. It is about 120 miles north to south, and sits about 15 miles off the southern coast. The cruise terminal sits on an artificial island with several futuristic towers, new and/or under construction. It is a challenging port to deal with; officials seem to make up the rules as they go along. I came out fairly well as passengers taking HAL excursions were covered for a HAL excursion enjoyed a blanket visa here, while those going on to Shanghai and Beijing needed to secure individual visas. We still had to meet with Chinese immigration officials as we left the ship.

My excursion was called (perhaps not quite accurately) Chinese Minority Village. The village (in the style of Colonial Williamsburg, Upper Canada Village, and other similar places) represents the culture of the Li people. The majority of Chinese people are ethnically Hans, but the Li people are the majority of the 1.3 million residents of Hainan Island. The complex sits about an hour North of Sanya.

We arrived about 10 and started with a cultural show on a multi-level stage. The pageant started with a demonstration of fire building using a bow drill for friction, and had scenes of weaving, rice processing, singing and dancing, and a bamboo pole dance reminiscent of the pole dance from the Filipino crew show. While the dances are similar, the legends surrounding them are very different. The Filipino version is that the dance reflects the setting of traps for a pest, while in the Li version it reflects collection of firewood.

When the show ended we were given a tour of the "village" where we saw the skill of the Li boys in climbing trees, viewed and sampled Li weaving, family life, and cooking and viewed a number of Li displays and artifacts. We left the village about noon and returned to Sanya for lunch at a beachfront hotel. Our final stop was at a pearl shop where we saw pearls extracted from an oyster and of course had a chance to ship. The shopping was of no interest to me, but we were right across the ship with a perfect opportunity to photograph the ship with the new towers in the background, and at one time a colorful Chinese junk passing in front of the ship.

We returned to the dock about 3, in time for afternoon tea. Scheduled departure was at 4, and the Captain then announced everything was ready except that the officials had to get permission from Beijing to allow the ship to leave. We sailed soon afterwards, passing the Costa Classica which had been waiting in the harbor to occupy our berth.

I almost felt like I was back on Cunard as we had our final formal night on a port day, with the farewell dinner. Everyone looked wonderful as we dined and went on to an encore performance by Annie Francis and finally a desert extravaganza in the lido.

We are playing musical clocks as we lost an hour last night, get it back tonight, and will probably lose it again tomorrow as we sail for out destination of Hong Kong. What time is it is now getting a bit confusing.


As today's parting shot it has been noted that the Zaandam is far from a new ship. That is true, but that hasn't stopped it from sailing to brand new ports. The aft stairwell is sporting several plaques from 2012 maiden ports of call. The ones in the photo are for Singapore, Darwin, and Sanya.


http://zaandamasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/plaques.jpg


I will also mention that the Zaandam has been for me my newest HAL ship. My record:

Rotterdam 5, sailed in 1997 at 38 years
Prinsendam, sailed in 2011 at 23 years
Rotterdam 6, sailed in 2011 at 14 years
Zaandam, sailed in 2012 at 12 years
Zaandam, sailed in 2002 at 2 years.

Roy

[RuthC]

I almost felt like I was back on Cunard as we had our final formal night on a port day, with the farewell dinner. Everyone looked wonderful as we dined and went on to an encore performance by Annie Francis and finally a desert extravaganza in the lido.
I'd pass on the dessert extravaganza to watch Annie Francis perform. She puts on an excellent show.

Thank you for the detailed description of your Sanya stop. This is an area of the world I know little about. There are so few reports from here that there's no opportunity to learn much from posters.
Your excursion sounds like something I would want to take, too.

[rafinmd]

Thank you RuthC.

I have been pondering a mystery the last couple of days. We have not received the usual Explorer the last 2 days. What has been delivered was titled "Daily Program" and the format was not particularly to my liking:

http://zaandamasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/explorer17.pdf

At dinner the change had also gotten unfavorable reviews. The mystery was finally cleared up when Michael explained before the show tonight. A container full of blank stock for the Explorer did not make it to the ship in Singapore. It appears these programs were printed on leftover obsolete stock, perhaps from a recent Alaska season.

It is now evident that we are no longer hugging the Equator. When I started my walk this morning I did only 1 lap before returning to my room for a light jacket which I much preferred to having only indoor air conditioning to the heat of the last w weeks. We had a high today of 62/17 with some fog and an occasional light drizzle but it was overall a very pleasant day.

Halong Bay literally means "descending dragon bay. The bay is home to lovely limestone islands with caves and is supposed to be a beautiful sailin, but unfortunately it was quite dark for both our arrival and departure. The bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This is our 4th port call in Vietnam. The first 3 were all in the former South Vietnam, while Halong Bay was part of North Vietnam, about 270 miles North of the 17th parallel. The port is about 3 1/2 hours South of Hanoi, and 2 1/2 hours North of Haiphong. There were 3 tour options today, including an 11-hour visit to Hanoi and a 3 1/2 hour bay cruise with visits to Thien Cung Cave. I chose the road less taken, the 7-hour Red River Delta tour which might more accurately be described as a Haiphong tour. On the tour we made 3 main stops, first at a local home where we tasted betel nuts, tea, and local fruits, then at 2 pagodas, both of which were quite busy with prayer sessions and had an extensive selection of sculptures At one there was a pool with a number of turtles lounging on some logs. In our Haiphong travels we twice passed a pair of lovely golden dragons. There was also a buffet lunch at the "Harborview Hotel" in Haiphong. The lunch was wonderful but the only evidence I saw of the harbor was the tops of a few cranes about 2 blocks away. Maybe there was a view from the upper floors but none that I saw. We made a brief stop at a shop associated with pearl cultivation. Altogether, it was not one of the better tours, and the reports at dinner indicate that the Halong Bay cruise would have been a much better alternative as it got unanimous raves.

It was close to 5 when we returned to the ship, and there was just time to enjoy a cup of coffee in the lido before heading down to the dining room. Tonight was the final performance of the current Zaandam Singers and Dancers as they will be going on leave in Singapore. Since the ship will be converting to the Showroom at Sea format in the next few months, the future of these performers may be in some doubt. Their performance tonight was "On the Air", a program of much of the music I heard on the radio in my youth. As expected, we lose another hour overnight as we return to Hong Kong time.

As today's parting shot, Vietnam for me is pretty much just another country, but I saw a bit today of how poignant an experience it has been for some of my shipmates. Even simple sights such as an urn of cool water brought back vivid memories of times here when all they had normally was 90-degree water out of their canteens and how refreshed they would have been by a drink of cool water. To those who have been here before, thank you for your service.

Roy

[IRL_Joanie]

Roy are the numbers following the name of the ship the age when you cruised them or something else?? I ask because your age (if that's what it is jumps around more than my daughter does:D)

Rotterdam 5, sailed in 1997 at 38 years
Prinsendam, sailed in 2011 at 23 years
Rotterdam 6, sailed in 2011 at 14 years
Zaandam, sailed in 2012 at 12 years
Zaandam, sailed in 2002 at 2 years.

Joanie

[ScottishMaid]

"at 2 years" means the ship was 2 years old in 2002, etc. so the years are how old the ship was when he sailed in it.

[IRL_Joanie]

"at 2 years" means the ship was 2 years old in 2002, etc. so the years are how old the ship was when he sailed in it.

Thank you!! That makes so much sense to me now:o

I just finished Roys post for today and would like to add My Thanks to all who served and/or are serving for my freedom!!

Joanie

[cccole]

Thank you so much for taking the time to let us join you on this cruise. Vietnam is a country that I don't think we will ever visit and I have read your posts with much interest and appreciation.

Did passengers get upset when the heading on their daily newsletter was different? It seems like a very minor thing to be worried about on a wonderful cruise.

I also want to say that I love your "parting shots." Fabulous!!

Thank you, Cherie

[rafinmd]

Thanks, Cherie, Joanie, and Scottish Maid. Unfortunately I am now into packing mode and will be leaving the Zaandam in about 12 hours but have 3 days left in Hong Kong. I don't think people were really upset about the change but there were some grumbles of "is this more cutbacks".

The day was quite blustery with 50mph winds across the deck, and most of the day was quite foggy. Around 10AM we passed through a strait between the North end of Hainan Island and the Chinese mainland less than 15 miles wide, and we could not see either shore through the fog. Much of the day was spent preparing for disembarkation with Michael's talk at 10, with a farewell from a large cross section of crew. In his final daily update Captain Andre (he is off on vacation once we arrive in Hong Kong) reported temperatures of 66/16, slightly warmer in Hong Kong on Sunday. My afternoon started with a presentation in the Wajung theater on "Custodianship of the Sea". I tried my hand at team trivia at 3 (we didn't do very well), followed by Indonesian tea and Spencer's presentation on Hong Kong at 4:30. I am well situated as my hotel is only 500 yards from the ship. The Master Chef's dinner with the parade of chefs and other dining staff in the Rotterdam Dining room came and went all too quickly.

The final show was an encore variety by Count Dimas and Davie Howe. As promised, Howe improvised instruments from a shower head, vacuum cleaner, and Lido chair. The show closed with a duet with Howe on trumpet/piano and Dimas on the accordion, at times joined by the HAL Cats saxophone player, all dressed in Vietnamese hats. Along with the show came some unwelcome news that Hong Kong immigration was taking extra time and we will not get our passports back until morning.

Today's parting shot comes as a paraphrase of Michael's closing words at the disembarkation talk. We hail from 30 nations, speaking 20 languages, we live and work together in peace and harmony in times of prejudice and strife, and strive to set an example of how to work together. May it always be so.

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam
Roy

[kura]

Many thanks for your daily posts....I have enjoyed them and helped with the waiting! We leave in 10 days for Hong Kong! Will be staying there for 3 days before we board.

[rafinmd]

Thank you Kura.

We arrived in Hong Kong at 6:20. When I rose this morning a new Explorer had been placed under my door. The new Captain will be Jan Smit, and the new travel guide will be Wallis. I think there will be a Protestant Chaplain for this leg as a minister is named for an interdenominal service at the same time as Mass. I had a rough final night as my smoke alarm malfunctioned, and it was a while before I realized it wasn't connected to a shipwide system and I would have to take action to get it stopped.

There are still a few post cruise days in Hong Kong, but this is regrettably the final post that will be live from the Zaandam.

Roy

[ScottishMaid]

Thanks for all the very interesting posts. How many of the passengers are staying on for the next 14 days to Shanghai and Beijing?

[erewhon]

I have really enjoyed travelling along with you on this cruise.

May I ask which Hotel you are staying at, that is so close to the ship?

Thank you for posting live from the Zaandam.

[jonja]

Many thanks Roy for all your news and information we have so enjoyed following you. One thing perhaps you could tell us, did you use the ship to change up your money for the different ports? We are a little unsure whether to bring some with us. Hope you have a safe trip home.

[rafinmd]

I'll have some more comments on today later, but first I'll be going out to the 8PM light show (it's 7:25pm in Hong Kong right now), but I did want to answer a couple of questions.

I'm in the Langham hotel, and it is a bit further than I expected from the map. The door is (well now was) actually about a quarter mile from the Zaandam Crow's nest and about a 15-minute walk from luggage pickup which was by the far aft end of the ship. The actual closest hotel I think is the Marco Polo, which is about 20 steps from the terminal enterance.

I did several things about money, including not getting it in China and Cambodia where I was there only 1 day on HAL excursions. I did buy Thai bahts on the ship. THe deal didn't seem great there, and I held off in Vietnam. I found it more difficult there to find exchange places and missed it in a couple of ports. In DaNang I asked for Dong in exchange for a purchase at a hotel but couldn't make myself understood and found a kiosk on the pier at the next port. If on an excursion you can probably get by without local currency if you have to but then should not expect to be able to spend anything. Even though on excursions, I prefer to have it if at all possible.

Roy

[jonja]

Thank you again Roy for your advice on currency exchange, we will certainly bear it in mind. Hoping you have a good time in Hong Kong ( we will be following you ). Wanted to wish you all the best for your treatment, (will be thinking of you).
Jan

[rafinmd]

Thank you, Jan.

We pulled into Hong Kong’s Ocean Terminal at 6:20. Passport return had been promised for 6:30am in the midship elevator landing. On my way down from the Lido I noticed that several of the passport return desks were unstaffed but mine was in full operation and I had my passport back by 6:35. Other than the delay getting passports back, disembarkation waa as easy as I’ve ever seen it. I had been given an estimate of 8:45 and was actually of the ship at 8:50. Ocean Terminal is actually part of a mall, and is quite integrated into the mall. We went through public areas of the mall with staff and signs directing us to baggage claim. Surprisingly, at no point in the process did we ever encounter any border authorities. We simply picked up our bags and walked off. The one negative was that the “information” staff at the pier was totally useless. I simply picked up my bags and followed other independent travelers back into the mall and out to the entrance. At the mall entrance I asked a security guard for directions to the Langham; he took me 20 steps to the Marco Polo where the doorman gave me directions for the 2-block walk. I arrived at the hotel about 9:15, the concierge took my bags, and I was told to return about 12. After exploring the Ocean Terminal mall and Star Ferry areas for a while I returned to the hotel. The room is quite nice. It has “sort of” an ocean view, a sliver of harbor which covers about 2 degrees of my field of vision when I stand in the right place. I went down first to the mall about 4:30 to watch the Zaandam back away from the terminal and then by the waterfront near the concert hall to watch it disappear towards the ocean.

Each night Hong Kong has an 8PM light show. It is very nice but the city is very colorful at night routinely and I thought the dancing colors were lovely but not a real game changer. By evening the air had become a bit chilly in Hong Kong.

Today’s parting shot is a Bon Voyage to the 400 or so guests continuing on the Zaandam to Beijing, Shanghai, and Korea, to the 1000 or so new guests, and especially the new occupants of 3341.

Roy

[erewhon]

Roy,
Thank you for responding to my query.
Re the Ocean Terminal Mall, is there still a coffee shop at the far end of the building, with a good view of the Harbour?

[rafinmd]

Roy,
Thank you for responding to my query.
Re the Ocean Terminal Mall, is there still a coffee shop at the far end of the building, with a good view of the Harbour?

Are you referring to the Starbucks inside a store on level 3 overlooking the luggage claim area. That's still there. There are a number of other coffee shops but they don't have much of a view.

Roy

[JCruisepal]

Thanks Roy for all the updates has been interesting to read. I am going on the same cruise on 18 March so good to have had a little insight to what to expect.

One thing what was the weather like in Halong Bay and Hong Kong - I think you said it was a little cooler than other places. Would we just need a light jacket or jumper?

Also what did you think of the light show in Hong Kong and where did you watch it from?

Any other interesting sights to look out for in Hong Kong.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your few days on hols left. Safe trip home
Thanks
Jane

[erewhon]

Are you referring to the Starbucks inside a store on level 3 overlooking the luggage claim area. That's still there. There are a number of other coffee shops but they don't have much of a view.

Roy

Yes, that will be the one, there were tables alongside the windows.
Thank you.

[rafinmd]

Thanks Roy for all the updates has been interesting to read. I am going on the same cruise on 18 March so good to have had a little insight to what to expect.

One thing what was the weather like in Halong Bay and Hong Kong - I think you said it was a little cooler than other places. Would we just need a light jacket or jumper?

Also what did you think of the light show in Hong Kong and where did you watch it from?

Any other interesting sights to look out for in Hong Kong.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your few days on hols left. Safe trip home
Thanks
Jane

I was fine with a light jacket and it should be warmer by the time you get there. If you're really sensitive to cold you might want more but I don't think so. I watched the light show from near the concert hall. If you (or anyone else booked for the spring) would like advance copies of the port information sheets HAL distributes, send me an email to royaferguson at verizon dot net. They have a copyright notice so I hesitate to post them but for people entitled to get them I see no problem with an advanced copy.

I think the hectic pace of the cruise was a bit more than I realized as I have been sleeping late In Hong Kong. I also haven’t really ventured far from the hotel, not quite yet working up the courage to try the transit system.

I did walk around the waterfront quite a bit and have am finally starting to get a bit familiar with my local area. One challenge in Hong Kong is that many of the streets are very busy and the only way to cross several arteries is through an extensive series of tunnels. I’ve often found myself going down just to get across a street and finally emerging with no idea where I am.

I did visit the space museum. It is very nice with a lot of models and places for mostly kids but sometimes adults to try a few things hands on. It was definitely overshadowed by my visit to Kennedy Space Center at Christmas but still a very nice place. The concert hall next door is lovely but unfortunately doesn’t seem to have anything on during my stay.

The weather has been pleasant, just a bit cool to be without a jacket but I usually unzipped my light jacket during the day. In the evening for the light show I add a light sweater and find the wind a bit cool but not uncomfortable. According to the sheet placed on my bed at turndown the Tuesday forcast is 72/22 with rain.

As today’s parting shot, I did go to the light show again. As a subscriber to the Baltimore Symphony they stress audience silence using the analogy of a painting with “silence” being the “canvas”.
While the light show is lovely, I think part of the reason I am less impressed is that the usual nighttime situation in Hong Kong is quite colorful and beautiful. If the light show were presented on a “canvas” of darkness, it would be truly astounding.

This post comes to you live from the Langham in Hong Kong. Zaandam should be well on the way to China by now.

Roy

[kura]

Many thanks for your offer of these sheets Roy....I have sent you an email.

[rafinmd]

I just submitted the review. I'll post a link to the published review when it comes out. I hope I've caught all the real misspellings, I know I corrected a few when I posted from word to the review entry form so I hope to have caught them again.


Background:I consider myself an experienced cruiser, and have sailed most of the world. While my favorite line is Crystal, I like to cruise more than I can afford with them and have also sailed with Windstar, Silversea, RCI, Cunard, and HAL.

Hotel Info:

Pre-cruise I booked one of the hotels HAL uses in Singapore, the Fairmont, but booked it independently at a significantly lower price. It was a very nice hotel in a great location. One tip here: The Fairmont’s internet access is quite pricy, but I joined their frequent stay group and on checking out found it is free for their members.

Post-cruise:In Hong Kong, I stayed post cruise at the Langham. It’s a very nice hotel just 2 blocks from Ocean Terminal, and I would gladly recommend it (although others may be just as good).

Ship: The Zaandam is one of HAL’s 4 R-Class ships. Roughly 60,000 tons and 1,400 passengers it is a nice size. Built in 2000 it is actually the near the middle of the age range of their ships. I thought it was mechanically in excellent condition but did have some cosmetic issues which detracted somewhat from the feel of the ship. The most significant one was carpeting near the elevator landings which appeared to have suffered from unequal application of cleaning products and had large discolored sections.

Activities: To me this is HAL’s biggest weakness. They tend to cater to sophisticated travelers and other lines like Cunard offer extensive enrichment programs with a variety of speakers. HAL’s program is are arranged around 4 areas (World,Food,Technology,and Wellbeing) Wellbeing is typically handled by the fitness center and is usually considered in addition to the activities. Technology is a bit too closely tied to their exclusive relationship with Microsoft and for me lacks depth. I am not really big on food as a topic. The World area had mostly offerings from the Travel Guide, Spencer Brown. Brown was excellent and unbiased but dealt mostly with what to see and do and did not go deeply into the history and background of the area.

Service: Superb. Many staff I had previously encountered only briefly addressed me by name and were always ready to go the extra mile to help. Personal but unobtrusive.

Port & Shore Excursions: One of the challenges of this area is that many of the key cities (Bangkok, Saigon, Hanoi) are quite distant from their nearest ports, making shore tours challenging and tiring. Excursions were generally pretty well done given the circumstances. They might better be seen by land, but independent travel in this region is a challenge I wouldn’t tackle.

Summary: A wonderful cruise to an unforgettable part of the world


Travel To Port of Embarkation: While not staying in the hotel through HAL, their hospitality desk did sell me a transfer at a reasonable price. The transfer was smooth, although embarkation was slow. I think the problem was an immigration delay in getting guests disembarked from the previous cruise.

Stateroom: My oceanview stateromm on the Lower Promenade (outdoor walking) deck was comfortable and well laid out. This class ship provides fridges only on verandah cabins but the ice bucket was kept filled (Fridges are available for rent). There was a bath tub but it was quite smal. The cabin temperature was always comfortable.

Dining: One of the dining rooms’s levels was for traditional dining with early and late fixed seatings, while the other was “anytime”. I was unable to get my request for traditional dining, and ended up in the anytime despite my wishes. I missed having the opportunity to get familiar with my waiters, but was always promptly seated when I arrived. The meals wouldn’t be called gourmet but were more than satisfactory. The selection and quality of food in the Lido restaurant were generally quite good. I did not use the specialty restaurants on this voyage.

Children's Clubs: There were only a small smattering of youth on this voyage. I seldom saw them while at sea, and have to assume they were occupied and engaged with the activities for them.

Entertainment: The Zaandam singers and dancers performed 4 excellent shows. Most of the other nights we had headline acts (singer, instrumentalist, and so on). They ranged from good to excellent. Of the 4 bars, one had a latin dance band, one a classical string group, a third alternated between guitar (early) and piano (after 9PM), and finally the Crows Nest with a band or DJ.

Disembarkation: Hong Kong authorities came on board by the last sea day and processed immigration in the background. There was a delay in their processing and we did not get our passports back until the final morning but from then everything went very smoothly and on schedule. There were no border formalities the final morning. I walked off the ship at 8:50, walked away from the terminal with my luggage, and was at my hotel at 9:10.

Roy

[kazu]

Thanks Roy for the review as well as your excellent blog:) So nice of you to take us along with you:D

[rafinmd]

Thanks Jacqui

I slept late again until almost 7:30, but did get out and about a bit. The Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island is free to seniors and is a nice ride. Once on that side of the harbor one of the nice things to do was ride the tram up to a peak of Hong Kong Island. It is not exactly a trivial walk to the base as the bottom station is a level of 28 meters, but the real climb comes with electrical power as we continue on up to 398 meters. The view from the top is quite stunning, looking down of the roofs of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers. The “peak” is not quite true as it is one of several peaks with the tallest being probably almost another hundred meters. The climb takes about 6 minutes. There was also quite a wind at the top. After exploring the summit, I returned to sea level and returned to Kowloon on the MTR Subway. That was probably not a good move as Kowloon is quite large and the subway maps are in schematic form only, not showing the relationship of the stations to landmarks. When I emerged from the subway I was almost a mile from the hotel and the directions were confusing. I finally spotted the Star Pices, which has been in Hong Kong almost since the Zaandam’s arrival, and used that as a directional guide. My return to the Langham took me through Kowloon Park a very nice park but a relatively small part of it is open space. Much of it is manicured gardens which we can look at but not enter, and another large part is athletic buildings and courts. Both the Kowloon station and the one near the South ferry terminal are sites for the airport express train. This train has a unique feature of airline checkin counters at the station where bags can be checked up to 24 hours in advance. I considered that attractive possibility but instead have booked an airport shuttle from the hotel which will take me directly to the airport.

The rain that had been mentioned in yesterday’s turndown card proved somewhat exaggerated. There were a few sprinkles during the day but something a bit heavier in the early evening. I had considered taking the ferry across to watch the light show from the other shore but did not do so. The weather was not bad just before 8 so I watched from near the Star Ferry terminal. There were some interesting lights on Ocean Terminal, first with white lights lighting in sequence down the pier, and later a gradual shifting of hues over it’s length.

Parting shot:My first visit to Hong Kong is ending. It has been a vibrant wonderful place but frankly not one that I have a burning desire to revisit. I had concerns when Hong Kong left British hands, but at least for now those fears are at rest.

Roy

[Crusing Bob]

Too late now for my comment because you will have already left HK. For those who like to get a professional massage, HK has many establishments for a relaxing one. They do it differently by using their feet from the traditional way aboard ship. The one thing that one has to look out for in HK is being approached by hookers when walking about. I don't recall any specific problems with pick pockets like in many parts of the world. HK like Singapore have changed drastically from my R&R days in the Vietnam Conflict and I must say I preferred the old before the crowded and modernized of today. Much more charm and of course everything was very inexpensive then but that is 45 years ago.

[rafinmd]

i am currently at the gate at 925 hong kong time. boarding is 1015 in light fog. so far so good. excuse the punctuation, i can't get a lot of things to work from this airport kiosk

roy

[cccole]

Thank you again for your daily posts. We have not visited Hong Kong since 1998 and remember flying in past high rise apartment buildings with laundry close enough to snag. So much has changed.

I think Hong Kong is a beautiful city at night, with fabulous restaurants, and...the Stanley Market and night markets.

I am wishing you good flights home and will be interested to see if you would do this itinerary again.

Thank you soooooooo much. I wish I had a parting shot, but I don't. Cherie

[erewhon]

Roy,

Again thank you for all your reports.
Wishing you safe travelling.

[jonja]

Many thanks again for all your posts Roy, bon voyage.
Jan

[rafinmd]

Thanks, all.

I had set a wakeup call for 5am and felt adequately rested on getting out of bed. A quick morning walk around town found generally pleasant temperatures of around 16/60 with a bit of fog that approached a drizzle but too light to interfere with walking.

The airport shuttle arrived at 7:35. It was a very nice coach with leatherette seats, 2 on the right and 1 on the left. After a 40 minute ride checkin at the airport was pretty easy, and all the formalities were concluded about 8:50. The airport is large and modern, with our gates accessed by an underground rail shuttle. Boarding of my 747 began about 10:30 for our 11:00 departure, quite close to schedule.

I'm in premium economy, and the flight is not heavily booked. It's 3-4-3 seating, I have an inner aisle seat with both of the seats to my right open, and about 8 inches free space in front of my knees as I sit upright. As I type now we are passing over the strait between Seoul and Osaka, having passed well East of Shanghai and the Zaandam. There's been some chop in the air, and out current route is considerably to the east of what was originally planned,

Lunch was a choice of chicken/rice or beef/mashed potatoes, a world above any domestic airline fare, but a big step down even from the Zaandam Lido. Guess it's back to reality. The routing map shows us proceeding pretty much along the East coast of Siberia and then roughly over Anchorage on our way to Chicago,

Today’s parting shot relates to the world of air travel, but to a lesser extent also sea travel. It’s been 520 years since Columbus’ famous voyage, and yet we still have not fully accepted the idea as a ball. You may remember my trip to Singapore took me through Toronto and Tokyo, and an almost universal (including me) was “how crazy is it to go way up to Toronto on the way to Singapore. I started to get some second thoughts as our route took us over the very northern tip of North America, and later I did some playing with my GPS. Great Circle routes tend to be accepted, including their use on long voyages such as direct Atlantic crossings, but they usually are not related to specific points on the ground. When I looked at the numbers for my flights, my return through Chicago was 444 miles longer than it would have been to fly directly to Baltimore. The increased distance in going through Tokyo to Singapore was 265 miles. The added distance to my route for going through Toronto: exactly 2 miles. Who would have believed that?

Roy

[RuthC]

How fortunate to get empty seats and legroom! Way to go! And decent food, too.

I was amazed last year to cross 12 time zones, on a 19-hour non-stop flight, and come out of it with no jet lag the next day. Maybe you can do as well? Hope so.

[rafinmd]

I'll respond to questions and have followup comments in a day or two, but for now I'm ready to just crash.

While it was a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago, we passed the international dateline enroute and I arrived pretty much the same date and time as I started. Immigration was very quick as part of the benefits of the NEXUS card (Global Entry), but there was still at least a 20-minute delay getting my luggage to check through so the benefit was a bit moot (but a great help to those making quick trips with just carry-on luggage).

With a long layover in Chicago, I rode the subway into the city for an hour or so. While I was exhausted I found getting out and about revived my spirits somewhat, although it turned out to be only temporary as I became quite drowsy on the ride back to the airport.

The final flight was a little early at both ends, arriving at BWI a little after 8:30, and at my doorstep about 9:50, about 28 hours after leaving the Langham.

My final parting shot concerns the Global Entry system. It is a very nice program but I found the pricing a bit strange. My NEXUS card costs $50 and includes full access to Global Entry as well as easier access to Canada. The Global Entry fee by itself without the benefits of NEXUS is double that at $100. Something doesn’t seem to add up.

Roy

[erewhon]

Good to know that you are safely home.

Hope you manage to get many hours of sleep to recover from the flights.

Thank you again for the reports of your cruise.

[rafinmd]

I want to touch on my summary of the itinerary and the Zaandam and my future plans.

How fortunate to get empty seats and legroom! Way to go! And decent food, too.

I was amazed last year to cross 12 time zones, on a 19-hour non-stop flight, and come out of it with no jet lag the next day. Maybe you can do as well? Hope so.

RuthC, you’re a better flier than I am. The one thing that was a positive on my flights was both times I reached my destination near bed time. What I think throws me off most is arriving after a long flight and having to face a day of either staying up or trying to sleep through the day. That is really the worst; what I went through this time was almost but not quite as bad.

I am wishing you good flights home and will be interested to see if you would do this itinerary again.

Thank you soooooooo much. I wish I had a parting shot, but I don't. Cherie

Thanks, Cherie, but I’ll have to tread very carefully on your question. There are places I really have no desire to visit, such as a lot of Caribbean ports. There are some, as was the case with my summer journey on the Prinsendam, where I was actually on my second visit to Iceland with a third scheduled and would love to go to the Scandanavian coast again anytime. My account likely reflected this but I looked at this as quite literally a “once in a lifetime” trip. The ports visited on the Zaandam are some I am thrilled to have had a chance to visit but that visit has fully satisfied my desire to go there. A true once in a lifetime experience. I was particularly lucky that the 3 special ports involved have been embarkation/disembarkation ports (Bangkok on Queen Victoria, Singapore and Hong Kong on the Zaandam), so I got a lot of time at each of those key cities. I have only one regret. When the Eastern Orient Express left me hanging, I wish I had pursued leaving at my original time and if necessary going on Bangkok-Angkor Wat-Singapore rather than pushing back my departure from home (well that, plus the Crystal Serenity is just arriving in Singapore today and my adventure is now over rather than just starting).

I enjoyed the Zaandam but some things have not changed. My favorite cruise line hands down is still Crystal, and my favorite non-Crystal ship, hands down, is still the Prinsendam. Neither of those has changed. My recent HAL experience is quite limited so ranking the ships I have sailed is fairly easy. I think the most important factor in the shipboard experience so my rating of ships will be fairly close to my rating of the crew. This is a general idea of how I see crews of ships I have sailed recently:

Crystal: 10
Prinsendam 9.8
Wind Surf:9.5
Zaandam:9
Cunard: about 7.5-8.5
Rotterdam: About 8
RCI: About 5
Silversea (ouch): About 2

While I have seen better crews than the Zaandam’s they are few and far between. I was particularly impressed that crew members who had no reason to remember my name did greet me by name, possibly stewards who escorted me to my table in the dining room and passed me days later in the Lido. Astounding. The cosmetic rough spots on the Zaandam were a bit of a distraction but were more than offset by the general design of the ship. After the Rotterdam’s retreat, I really liked the aft lido deck on the Zaandam and was pleased by the absence of Lanaii cabins. The cabin I was in would have been one of the Lanaii’s on the Rotterdam and I almost certainly would not have gotten the nice upsell if I’d been on that ship.

I’ll add a bit about my future prospects with HAL. It looks like my next return to HAL will be postponed. My highest priority on HAL has been the Amazon on the Prinsendam, which she typically does twice a year in November and February and my preference is the November round trip from Ft. Lauderdale. Since I’ll be on my way through the Panama Canal on the Symphony this November I would like to do it in November 2013. When I was on the Prinsendam the schedule had not been released that far out (actually still hasn’t) so I booked the February 2013 segment from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale. When I spoke with Deborah Buchanan and she looked on her computer she seemed convinced that the Elegant Explorer will go on to that itinerary when she completes her Transatlantic on November 26. If so, I expect to divert to that voyage.

I also have a bit of an opening in my travel schedule and was considering either the Maasdam Montreal-Boston or Veendam Bermuda or possibly the Enchantment of the Seas for May or July. It turns out the Enchantment had some engine trouble and missed ports which probably softened bookings for the near future and a May cruise to Bermuda and New England dropped about 40% while I was in Asia. Shouldn’t be a big surprise I booked that cruise. Since the November Amazon voyage is not a Grand, I purchased an FCD to book that, and a second one in case there was something before that I wanted to book. I also just checked my record today and am now 6 days away from 3-star. I may not get back to HAL until next November and will likely board Prinsendam as a 2-star but will use those FCD’s sometime anyway.

I don;t think of this as a regular update and this is not a true parting shot but 2 of my best friends on Cruise Critic are Barb and Dan (Love Cruises). They are primarily HAL cruisers but we have sailed together twice on Blount Small Ship Adventures. This trip marks the first time we have even been on HAL ships at the same time (they are currently on a 30 day voyage on the Rotterdam). Barb and Dan, enjoy the time you have left on the Rotterdam.

Roy

[RuthC]

RuthC, you’re a better flier than I am. The one thing that was a positive on my flights was both times I reached my destination near bed time.
I don't want it to sound better than it was! I had been up 24 hours straight when I arrived at my hotel at 6:30 PM. I had a light supper, then slept for 12 hours. I had also taken two good naps on the flight.
Normally, it takes a while to adjust from a long flight---especially east-bound.

Glad to see you're awake! And plannning more cruises.

[rafinmd]

Thanks RuthC.

I've gotten the email back from CruiseCritic that my review has been published:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=98026

Roy

[lagunaman]

Amazingly different to Tabitha's experience !

Thanks RuthC.

I've gotten the email back from CruiseCritic that my review has been published:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=98026

Roy