richwmn

I believe the email was automatically sent to anyone booking the FLL=>Montreal Cruise. In my case, the PVSA was blown totally out of the water due to visiting the South Pacific and I could book on to Boston, but that would take a manager's review, particularly since my FLL=>Montreal was not initially linked to the previous cruises.

HAL is doing a better job of letting people know about this now. When I booked FLL=>Montreal in October(ish) I immediately received an email that booking the following cruise to Boston was not allowed due to PVSA.

April 15th, 2024 – at sea, destination Panama Canaletto This morning we are off the coast of Panama and it is a beautiful day. Tomorrow morning we will enter the Panama Canal for the transit to the Caribbean Sea and Fort Lauderdale. The transit and the canal is always a wonderful sight. We are currently headed Southeast at 14 knots. The temperature is 82°F / 28°C under scattered clouds. The humidity is 69% and the winds are a little over 10mph. Yesterday was a nice, but hot day in Costa Rica. Puntarenus is a nice port town. While the walk from the ship is rather long, it is not really too bad. Once we got into town there was a rather large market set up, with vendors selling cigars, jewelry, and clothing. Everything appeared to be well made. I didn’t inquire about prices but of course was told ‘best prices anywhere’. Back on the ship, we had our normal trivia sessions at 1pm and 4pm. I didn’t attend the 7pm ‘Music’ session because I didn’t want to miss any of the stage show. While we didn’t win the trivia sessions, we did well. The 4pm session had a theme of ‘Beverages’, and we talked before about how broad a topic that is. The questions were moderately hard and no one got a perfect score. We changed our clocks again last night so we are in sync with Panama. We are still one hour off Fort Lauderdale and the east coast. Only six more days until the end of this segment. Here are today’s activities and menus --

Sorry we didn't talk more, hope to run into you again before Fort Lauderdale. If you want to call, I'm in 3300.

April 14th, 2024 – Puntarenus, Porta Caldera, Costa Rica Good morning from our last port on the west coast of North & Central America. We are sharing the port today with the Carnival Spirit, and the pier is so narrow that our gangplank almost touches the other side and so does Spirit’s. From the ship to the shore is about a 500 meter walk. Yesterday was a very good sea day. I only attended two of the three trivia sessions. The afternoon session was themed ‘Travel’ and the questions were pretty hard. We did well with both. I didn’t attend the ‘Music’ session at 7pm because I wanted to see the entire show in the World Stage. The show was a singer/guitar player named Mario D’Andrea. As with a lot of the musical acts, he used a recorded background, but he played several songs without it. The show was very good and it seemed that everyone in the packed audience enjoyed it. He has a very good voice and is a very accomplished guitar player. Today in Costa Rica will be very hot and humid. We have to be back on board at 5:30pm so we have one of our longer days in port. Here are today’s activities and menus.

I am in control and I am embarrassed, I usually don't mess up the ship I'm on! Sorry about that. I have checked and Volendam is now correct to when I get off in Montreal. Rich

April 13th, 2024 – at sea, destination Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera), Costa Rica We are heading South toward Panama, but tomorrow we will stop in Costa Rica. After leaving we will have one more time change before entering the canal. We are currently headed Southeast at 14 knots which is about what was announced that we need in order to make our next port on time. The temperature is currently 84°F /29°C under scattered clouds. The wind is at 22 mph, and the humidity is 71%. Yesterday was a very nice day in Puerto Quetzol. As seems to be the case with many ports on longer cruises, we were at a container port with a long walk from the ship to any chance of seeing anything. There is nothing within sight of the ship. For various reasons, including a long ago visit to the area, I stayed on the ship. We continue to have three trivia sessions a day, doesn’t matter sea or port. The early or 1pm session is always general knowledge, the 4pm session is themed, and at 7pm we have music, also with a theme. We have a group of 6 that plays the first two sessions together. On Thursday one of our members had our seats ready for us when two people sat in them. When told that we had a full team on the way, they said ‘Do you expect us to move’, and were upset when they were told yes. As to the trivia itself, we did well for the first two. The Music trivia was supposed to by ‘Disco’, but about half the songs came out during the period but were not really disco. We did not do well with this theme, getting only 11 out of a possible 24 points. The show on the World Stage last night was the second show by the ‘Latin Devos’, a nice group of three singers. Each gentleman has a good voice and they sing together well. The proportion of singing vs talk is good and they have a nice stage presence. It has been a nice morning aboard Volendam, and looks to be an enjoyable day. Here are the activities and menus for today –

For your second, and subsequent, cruises on the same ship you do NOT have to print any documentation or have it on your phone. Everything you need to continue will be provided to you in your cabin several days before turnaround day.

I corrected it as a port but didn't think to correct it as a destination, brain fart. It will be fixed for tomorrow

April 12th, 2024 – Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala It is 7:30am and we are not due into port until 10am, so a bit of travel to finish this morning. We are headed East and slightly North as we head into Puerto Quetzal. Volendam is making 17 knots. We are currently under clear skies with a temperature of 77°F / 25°C with a humidity of 74% and winds at just under 7mph. Yesterday was a very nice day aboard Volendam. After a nice morning stroll thru Huatulco I got back to a nice lunch. We had our typical three trivia sessions. The second was themed ‘Animals’ and had a nice selection of questions about the animal kingdom. My group managed to win that session. The late music session featured songs by the Beatles. We had a nice selection of 10 songs and a bonus. Although almost all groups got everything right, the selection contained both popular and less well known Beatles songs. We got out of trivia in time to make it to the World Stage in time to see the beginning of the show. Last night Lisa Harmon returned to the stage, the fifth time in the last couple of weeks. She is a very talented singer and puts on a good show. This morning was a bit different. I woke up and realizing today is a ‘port’ day. However, since our time today starts at 10am, the Lido was observing ‘sea’ day hours and not opening until 7am. Cereal and Juices were out, so my breakfast this morning was a very satisfying bowl of Cereal and some Juice. Our hours today in Puerto Quetzol are 10am to 5:30pm so it will be a good day to visit. Our activities and menus –

April 11th, 2024 – Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico I’m sure y’all are a bit tired of my comments on the wonderful weather I have been having since boarding Volendam, but I really haven’t had a bad day. Some might have been a little warm or cold, but in general, very nice. Today is another nice day in a small beach town. I don’t remember stopping here before, my only real memory of this area is in 1976 during a drive to Panama. Yesterday was a bit of a mixed day. A nice relaxing day at sea and no real problems. We had the typical three sessions of trivia, and we did ok at the first two. The second session was on ‘Movies’ and we only missed one, tying for the win but losing (again) in the tie breaker. The 7pm session seems that it will always be music. Last night the song or artist had to begin with the letter ‘C’, and we did terrible. I will say that session is a bit frustrating. The previous trivia host made sure to have trivia end in time to get to the World Stage in time for the show to start. Cliff mentioned last night that he made sure to be finished by 7:30pm (doesn’t always happen) which gets us to the stage after the show starts. In giving the answers he plays more of the song than he needs to and that puts us late. The show last night was the first show this cruise by what has been known as ‘The Grand Voyage Repertory Company’, but might have a different name now since we are no longer on a Grand Voyage. Last night we had ‘In the Mood’ which was one of the shows we had on the Australia New Zealand Grand. It was again very good. The group is very energetic and the show is fun to watch. Today’s activities and menus –

April 10th, 2024 – at sea, destination Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico Good morning! Volendam is currently off southern Mexico heading Southeast at 19 knots. We reach our next stop tomorrow morning. Under broken clouds, the temperature is currently 75°F/ 24°C with a humidity of 80% and winds at almost 12mph. Yesterday was a beautiful day in Puerto Vallarta, and very relaxing on the ship. This was another repeat port for me on this cruise as we visited on December 29th, prior to Grand Australia & New Zealand. I had some things I wanted to do so I remained on board and got quite a bit done. It is always nice to remain on board at ports because everything is wide open and easy to use. For trivia there were three sessions scheduled, but I only made two of them. For the 4pm session, the topic was ‘Mexico’. Most of the questions were relatively easy and we did well. The evening session was an unusual topic. Each song had a letter ‘B’ and either the name of the song or the name of the artist. The songs covered several eras and genres. As a result Tom and I only got 17, with the winner getting 20. Now to the entertainment. Mike Robinson was the World Stage entertainer last night. As with Lisa last night, he is a hold over from the last week or so of the Grand Australia cruise. None the less, I hurried to the World Stage after trivia to see his show. I was slightly disappointed. The audience was packed, good for the performer. I stayed for a minute and saw the first bit of the same show I saw two weeks ago. If the venue had not been packed, I would have stayed and enjoyed it again. Because I didn’t have an easy view of the stage, I left. I also didn’t return for the late show although it wouldn’t have been as crowded. It is a very nice day aboard the ship this morning. Plenty of activities scheduled and a very relaxed day. Here is our schedule –

April 9th, 2024 – Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Good morning from another repeat of a Christmas Cruise port. Today is another nice day in Mexico. We have continued to have nice weather since I boarded the ship in December. I overheard some people talking this morning that have been aboard Volendam about a month longer than I have. Yesterday was an interesting day in Cabo. Between the fact that Cabo is a tender port, the Christmas Visit, previous visits, and the eclipse I decided to stay aboard, along with quite a few others. I got a few tasks taken care of with my Chrome book by the mid ship pool. A little before 11am the area started to get a bit of the crowd, with about half having glasses to look at the eclipse with. Those of us that had glasses shared and everyone got a look at the eclipse. We had three trivia sessions yesterday. The early one at 1pm was general knowledge, and we did ok. For the 4pm session the theme was ‘History’ and we did somewhat better, but still didn’t win. The music session at 7pm was ‘Motown’. We got everything right up until the last song, got the right artist but wrong title. We tied for first with another team that made the same mistake. Lisa Harmon was on the World Stage last night. For me, this was the fourth appearance in about two weeks. She started off with two good songs, one vocal only and one with the piano. At that point I left because I had a couple of things on my mind. However, I’m sure it was another good show. As I mentioned earlier, it is another pretty day here, but it will be a bit short. All aboard is 2:30pm as we make our way further South again. Here are today’s activities and menus –

Volendam is in Puerto Vallarta tomorrow so the schedule should be correct

Volendam is in Cabo San Lucas MX today, I'll have to check the schedules for Volendam & Zaandam going forward. We will have 95% eclipse in about 15 minutes

For background, I have sailed on every current HAL ship, most of them more than once, and several in their first year. At this point, I have been on Volendam for a little over 100 days, sailing from San Diego to Mexico, the South Pacific, and now back to Mexico. I have seen the term 'tired' applied to many HAL ships, and also to older ships from several other lines and I don't quite understand the very vague term. Is Volendam old? By cruise ship standards yes she is. Volendam is 25 years old. Her decor is what was current in the late 1990's so she is not as bright as some newer ships. Is Volendam in good repair? Yes she is. You will constantly see the HAL crew taking care of the ship with pride. Like any 25 year old ship, things will happen but for the most part they are taken care of quickly. Sometimes parts have to be ordered just like repairs to your home or car, and they have to be shipped to an upcoming port, so the repair might not be immediate. Dining Options - true there are not as many dining options as the larger ships but what are available are very good. At times HAL has been known to feature one of the other specialty restaurants in either the Pinnacle Grill or Caneletto space as a pop up so those options can exist as well. Music Options - like dining, not as many options but the ones that exist are good. What happens on each cruise is more dependent on the actual performers HAL is able to get for any particular sailing. The current artists, most of which joined the ship in San Diego, are very good. The nice things, as others have mentioned, are that on the smaller ships it is easy to get around and you quickly get to know passengers and crew. You don't have to walk far to get to anything on the ship. Volendam in not new, but she is comfortable.

April 8th, 2024 – Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico It’s deja vu all over again! Today’s stop is Cabo San Lucas and I was last here on Dec 25th, yes Christmas Day, on the cruise prior to the Grand Australia. Cabo is a tender port and tendering has already started. It is a pretty day here, and we are in the path of about 95% of the solar eclipse. Yesterday was a busy day. The ship had two Mariner receptions, one at 11am and the other at 1pm. I had an invitation to the 1pm one and went up to the Crows Nest a couple of minutes early. The doors were already open and I was greeted by the Captain and other officers present. There was a good crowd and conversation and wine flowed freely. Then at 2pm I had a ‘complementary’ wine tasting. I quoted complementary because at this time I have been charged for it. Not that it is much, but it is supposed to be a 5* benefit. I did notify Guest Relations and a ticket was started. We will have to see how quickly it is taken care of. The wine tasting itself was very nice, and again good conversation with the others at the table. We had two red and two white wines and all were good. Due to the Mariner’s reception I missed the early trivia at 1pm, but Tom said his group did well. The 7pm trivia was again music snips, but this time it was the ‘70’s. Cliff, the trivia host, had a good mix of songs. Tom and I got 21 out of 24 again and won for the second night. If the schedule is followed tonight would be the ‘80’s and that might be the end of the run. After trivia I went directly to the World Stage where ‘Latin Devos’ was the selection for the evening. This act consists of three gentlemen, each with a good voice. One of the three played the violin and a horn, and was very good at each. They sang a nice variety of songs and the time went quickly. Overall a good experience on the World Stage. Today at about 11am this area will experience the solar eclipse. Tom provided me a pair of glasses to use, and most likely I will be on the ship to view it. Today’s activities and menus – Cabo this morning

Didn't know to look

April 7th, sea day destination Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico Today is our first sea day heading toward Fort Lauderdale. We have covered a good portion of our journey to Cabo overnight and are headed Southeast at 21 knots. The temperature is 57°F / 14°C under a few clouds. The humidity is 21% with winds at 20 mph. Yesterday I elected to stay on the ship for turnaround. I expected everything to be delayed a bit, and was not surprised when we were. For those remaining on board, we were to get to the Wajang Theater at 9:30 for our presentation to immigration. Between waiting for the straggling Guests to leave the ship, and for the ship to be ready for us to return, the process took a bit over 90 minute. Within a few minutes after we got back on the ship, the Lido was open for lunch. It was really nice to be the only one there, and to walk around a ship that was basically empty. After lunch I took care of a couple of things, then headed to the aft Lido pool for the scheduled sail away party. Again, I had expected a delay in leaving and was not surprised when the ship didn’t pull away at 4:00pm. After chatting with a few fellow Guests, I headed into the restaurant for dinner. The next activity after dinner was the 7pm trivia in the Mix. Since Dani left in San Diego we had a new trivia master. The topic was music, and he used clips from the ‘60’s that we had to identify song and artist. My partner was Tom, who some may know as ‘Scooter Tom’, who was also on the Christmas cruise. We managed to score 21 of 24 points, and shouldn’t have missed the ones we did. We just didn’t think enough about it. After trivia I stayed in the Mix to hear the new piano player. Entertainment, like food, is subjective. Eli, who left, had a nice crowd each evening but I didn’t really care for his style. I really enjoyed the new pianist. I listened to three songs and enjoyed them. I wanted to go to the Ocean Bar and hear the new band there, and they were also good. The band composition was basically the same as the one that left, a female lead with four backup instruments. This group was also good. They played two songs before taking a break and the Cocktail Pianist took over. She is another talented pianist with a good style. I didn’t get to the string trio, but it has been reported that the group from the Grand is still aboard and is very good. Very little of the crew changed, so that continuity is very nice. We had 72 people stay on the ship and had 1392 new passengers board. Someone had told me we were going to have a lot of kids, but it ends up being only about 25. Despite the full ship, it should be a nice cruise. Today’s activities and menus –

April 6th – San Diego, California turn around day Back on board and now officially on the San Diego to Fort Lauderdale leg of the cruise. I had the honor of meeting David ( @DAllenTCY ) who works at the terminal and posts regularly about boarding from the standpoint of the shore side workers. The day is very nice, and we should have beautiful weather for the sail away. The party is scheduled for 3pm, but rumor has it that we will actually leave San Diego later than that.

April 6th – San Diego, California turn around day It is a beautiful day in San Diego. We arrived on time and disembarkation has started. I originally didn’t plan to leave the ship, but things might have changed. Lots of things going on yesterday. The normal good byes and safe travels. Everyone realizing what a nice experience this has been, and getting ready to leave. Last night on the World Stage we had a very good performance by Mike Robinson and Lisa Harmon. Mike and Terrance did a few things I had not seen from them before, and Lisa was in good voice. It was a nice show for the end of the cruise. Most of the house entertainment that was so wonderful for the Grand Cruise is leaving today, and I will miss them. It remains to be seen what will replace them. Today’s activities and menus

I sent you an email

Yes Volendam and Zaandam are sister ship and about the same size, however the entertainment options will not be the same as on a grand cruise.

I am on Volendam currently just finishing the Grand Australia & New Zealand. For the duration of this cruise, we have had 1 - Ocean Bar Pianist during afternoon happy hour and fill in 2 - Ocean Bar Band - generally 3 sets a night, but also sail aways and back up band for entertainers on World Stage 3 - Dance Band - generally in the Crows Nest for 2 - 3 sets a night, but in the Ocean Bar when that band is elsewhere 4 - Pianist in the Mix 2 - 3 sets a night 5 - String trio in the Explorations Lounge 2 - 3 sets a night These acts generally have had 1 night off per week. Grand Voyage Rep Co. has done at least 12, maybe as many as 15 stage shows on the World Stage that have been very good. Very few nights on the World Stage have been dark or a movie. We have had many different singers, magicians, and other acts. Many of these acts I have seen before on other HAL ships and are some of the best they have had. The entertainment staff has been larger than shorter cruises, having a Cruise Director, trivia host, and sports director among others. During the day we have had many good lectures, as well as arts & crafts, and organized games. The quality of the 'House' entertainers has been very good. Just to add, the Ocean Bar Band, Dance Band, Cocktail Pianist, and Mix Pianist are are leaving tomorrow at the end of the Grand Cruise. The entertainment options will change and we will have to see who boards.

April 5th – at sea, destination San Diego, California Today is the final day of the Grand Australia and New Zealand Cruise on Volendam. Tomorrow in San Diego almost all the Guests will leave the ship, with 72 remaining. Shortly after, almost 1,400 Guests will board the ship. The lower berth capacity of Volendam is 1,432, with the maximum being 1,718, so the ship will be very full. Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 62F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. We are currently headed Northeast, at precisely the same heading we have had for the past few days. Our speed is 20 knots, a little more than the past few days. The temperature is 59°F / 15°C under overcast skies. The humidity is 57% with winds at almost 19 mph. For tomorrow in San Diego - Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 62F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. A couple of things went on yesterday. The first was that a luncheon was arranged by a Guest for those passengers continuing on. Although this was not set up by the ship, the Captain, along with the love of his life, and the Cruise Director stopped by to say something. About 40 of the 72 people who are continuing showed up and seemed to have a good time. Last night was the final performance by the Grand Voyage Repertory Company, a production named ‘Classique’. As with all of their performances it was a high energy, very good performance highlighting the talents of the singers and dancers. They are continuing on so it will be nice to see several of the shows again. Today’s activities and menus –