old mike

Hey Miss G no apologies necessary. I just cannot lose the habits of a lifetime.  

Mike

12 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

🤣

 

I appreciate your review and comparisons.  Thank you!  I took the liberty of averaging the ratings:

 

#1 - Celebrity Edge (9.06)

#2 - Crystal (9.03)

#3 - Celebrity Reflection (8.71)

#4 - MSC (8.65)

#5 - RCL (8.13)

#6 - HAL (7.56)

your math is incorrect HAL should be 8.56 

We love the Zaandam, our first cruise on the ship was in the fall of 2017 from Vancouver to Rio de Janeiro. We enjoyed that cruise so much we did a repeat last fall ,2018, we started in Montreal and we did a B2B continuing on through the Panama Canal and round to Rio again. The ship had undergone a drydock between those two cruises and was in good shape, for us we find the crew "happy" on all HAL ships but the Zaandam just seem to be happier.

The happy hours in the Ocean Bar and the quartet with the dance floor later in the evening make it our favorite space. The food in the MDR, Canaletto and the Pinnacle grill were all great. Mainstage Entertainment was hit and miss, so,so, but then that not not something that we cruise for. The scenery around the Horn, through the inside passage and glacier alley are hard to beat.

Enjoy.

Math is your best friend,

propulsion power is opposed by drag , for  turbulent flow which is applicable, the drag is proportional to speed squared. 

Using dimensionless ratios one azipod should easily  attain 15 knots even allowing for the asymmetrical thrust.

basis as follows

top speed 24 knots, the  square root of 24 is about  4.9 which equates to the thrust from two azipods.

the presently demonstrated speed is 15 knots,  the square root of 15 is about 2.3 which is less than 50% of the equivalenced thrust from two azipods at a nominal 2.5 

I still prefer a slide rule over computers or calculators.

4 hours ago, SFO PETER said:

I make my own sandwich...

1.  Get two slices of whole wheat (or?) bread from breakfast in Lido and keep for lunch.  This avoids lunch line.

2.  At Lido for lunch get either Roast Pork, Beef, Fish fillet from hot station.  Roast Pork sandwich is nice!

or you can get Tuna or Egg Salad from the sandwich area.

3.  Add cheese, Mayo and other condiments.

4.  Assemble sandwich.

 

 

exactly what  I do. I also love fresh roast pork in a sandwich, even better if there is a side of crisp crackling!!!

Never forget you have paid for the stars and they are not cheap.

We don't regret the spend, we have enjoyed every cruise we have done, the places we've seen and the people we have met.

We both reached and went  past the 5 star level after our last cruise. I did some back of the envelope math and the cost of those stars, earned between 2013 and 2019, ran somewhere in the range of $200,000- 250,000 Canadian for the two of us. That is only the amount paid to HAL,  it does not include airfares, or hotel and other costs pre and post cruise. 

Yes, but they will not be added to your mariner account until the cruise they were purchased for has finished.

On 12/15/2019 at 12:06 PM, Tom O. said:

Everyone has their own taste, and that helps make the world an interesting place.

It is easy for a cruise ship or restaurant to provide a large assortment of tea - they simply keep an assortment of tea bags available.

But, not so easy to supply a large selection of coffee, since it must be brewed and kept fresh. Most restaurants usually only have the choice of regular or decaf.

So a cruise ship simply brews something that most people will accept. There will always be some who don't like it and others that do.

So true, we did not "accept" what we were served on our first Hal cruise, the Veendam, 2013. Since that first cruise with HAL we discovered  Neptune suites and the Neptune lounge with a good self service barista machine. That has been one of the factors that has kept us going back , I've never never forgotten the captain on "a ship", that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, he would come into the lounge every morning to grab a coffee, probably just before his regular staff meeting, He confessed that he didn't know how HAL was getting away with the "crap" generally available coffee. but it is all from beans, just so-so beans, you could say "has beens" . Sorry I'll get my coat.

The Westerdam, which was on that route last year, was close to full when we boarded in Vancouver and absolutely full after the stop in Yokahama.

Mike

On 12/11/2019 at 8:21 AM, Funatabi said:

Wow! This is great to know. I live in Asia and eat Indian food at least once a week. 

I was wondering if there was a way that I could  get curries and such to have a variation of foods on my long cruise. And now I know.

 

I was thinking that with so many of the crew from India and surrounding  countries, that the ship would cook great Indian food for them, so why not for us too! 😊

 

I assume that I can order Indian food, even with any time dining. Yes?

Yes, we were anytime dining. 

On 12/11/2019 at 7:07 AM, Maya_C said:

I love Indian food, but I request mildly spicy when I order at an Indian restaurant, where the food can be fiery hot (at least for my tastes). I know tastes differ, but I'd appreciate comments on the spiciness of the ship's Indian food. Thank you. 

Hi Maya,

I'm the reverse, I like lip numbing heat and enjoy a "Phall" level, that's a couple of notches above a Vindaloo which is usually the hottest served by most north american restaurants and way hotter than most casual indian cuisine fans would enjoy.

I tried the lamb Vindaloo one night on the Zaandam it was excellent but I found it quite mild for my taste, this is such a subjective aspect of food, my mild is almost certainly your searing heat.  Sorry not much help I know.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-capsaicin-995597

and

https://www.thespruceeats.com/make-a-chile-pepper-less-spicy-4126819

are informative

Mike

We were on the Zaandam from Montreal through to Rio in October and November,  we ate from the Indian Menu several times. We just had to order one day ahead, the server will bring you a copy of the next evenings indian menu and you just tick off what you would like, no more commitment than that, the food was superb and portions were larger than we wanted. Service was as fast or faster than the regular menu. I'm a brit so grew up eating curry and have successfully converted my French ex-fiance to Indian food, we  both love it especially the vegetarian options, which are so much better than boiled to extinction veggies typically served with. western cooking proteins. 

Enjoy

We're also from Calgary and we were on the Westerdam in Asia last fall.  I purchased local currency for all the countries we visited before boarding the ship.

I asked for small denomination bills, my intent was to get the equivalent to 5 or 10 canadian dollars, when I went to the bank to pick up the requested currencies I was met with stacks of bills that would have needed a small truck to haul away. They had miscommunicated the request to the currency supplier who had sent small denomination local currency notes, the teller offered to accompany us on the cruise and carry the several suitcases that would have been needed..

The bank did eventually change the notes for me.

You get automatic Orange Club "membership with a Neptune Suite and as said by others there is no Orange Club dining room except on the new ships. However, what was new to us on the Zaandam, and I would assume other ships,  was an Orange Club priority desk for the Dining Room, and it actually worked, we never had to wait even if there were queues at the other desks. Much better than the previously promised but never met priority reservation at peak times in the dining room for open seating. Just the embarrassment of walking past those waiting in line. Being a Brit I was raised with the view that  jumping a queue should be considered to be just shy of a hanging offence.

We just left the Zaandam yesterday in Santos Brazil, a day before the official cruise end in Rio de Janeiro. We had requested approval before boarding, we received  an official approval letter and the ship staff were great, expediting our passports through the Brazilian official stamping process that morning, Santos was the first port of call in Brazil.

Despite the approval letter stating that we would have to handle our own luggage, which we fully understood, as soon as we reached the gangway  two of the crew that were on duty there immediately jumped to help us get the bags down to the dock where two of the port officials took over and helped us take our luggage  (all 5 bags,it was a 44 day cruise from Montreal) through screening and to the pick up point for our pre-arranged transfer to Sao Paulo. all refused any proffered tip!

The bottle of Pisco I had purchased in Peru and had surrendered to storage for the balance of the cruise was returned the night before debarking and our final (ouch) invoice appeared the morning of our debarking. 

9 hours ago, propwash said:

So how you find out which trips are repositioning????

Thanks

 

Typically they will be in the spring or fall, March to April and October to November.  Just have to use the cruise line search engines.

 Noordam, Auckland to Vancouver 36 days spring 2017

Zaandam, Vancouver to Rio de Janiro 38 days fall 2017

Westerdam a B2B, Vancouver to Singapore 57 days fall 2018

the next one is already booked it will be another B2B for 44 days on the Zaandam,  Montreal to Rio de Janiro via the Panama canal in October 2019.

lWe enjoy the variation in the cultural experiences, the archealogy and obviously the scenic contrasts. We also enjoy the relaxing sea days, we find short cruises with lots of port days can be tiring.

The only con for us is the the need for the wide range in the necessary wardrobe, literally equatorial to sub arctic.

Our first three cruises were on the Veendam, Zaandam, and Noordam and we observed that the Starboard side was the side most likely to be towards the dock but our experience on the Westerdam last fall was that the dock side was split equally between port and starboard. We now pick the side that will have the sunset, Can't beat sipping a cocktail on your private balcony as the sun sets.

Halong Bay was  our favourite part of our two month cruise last fall from Vancouver to Singapore on the Westerdam. The photograph was taken as we returned to the ship after a rainy  but great day on a Junk sailing. We stayed at anchor overnight and saw the Bay in it's beauty early next morning as we sailed away. The food on the Junk was fantastic.

moules mariniere to this recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/11/the-best-moules-mariniere-sailor-style-mussels-recipe.html  with a fresh baguette, heaven, my mouth is watering just  thinking about it.

Hawaii was our first ever HAL cruise and we thought our stop in nahwiliwili  was the best day of the cruise, we zip-lined and it was absolutely beautiful pristine country. 

42 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

There's no practical option that doesn't involve taxes and fines at some point. Solar power is the logical substitute for fossil fuel. Convert excess solar radiation into energy, and give it a kick-start by taxing users of fossil fuel.

Complete rubbish, you clearly did not read the link I gave you several pages ago on the realities of alternate energy.

I have some unicorns for sale, Perhaps you would like to buy one, you do have to supply your own rainbow though.

The three stages slso allow for changes appropriate to the situation to be made. There was a  "smoke"  event on the Westerdam during one of the legs in Asia last fall, The response fexibility allowed  the crew to clear some of the rear cabins until the source of the smoke was found and the smoke had abated, ithe source was a burnt out fan motor on one of the bake ovens in the galley and the HVAC had spead the smoke through the aft section of the ship. We had a running commentary from the captain as the event  unfolded. Fortunately the ship had more than one bake oven so we still had those excellent fresh rolls!!!

59 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

f interest is the amount of particles emitted in port. Usually 2x higher than at sea. The Carnival FREEDOM (built 2007) had a maximum one-minute reading of 119,983 Pts/cc. Whilst the Emerald (built 200) had an astonishing concentration of 126,786 Pts/cc.

 

I hope that cheng and company take note.

Again you are demonstrating your ignorance and I'm sorry to say gullability. Without size distribution the numbers you quote are  meaningless.The report you reference was little more than a publicity stunt. 

 I am  a professional in the field, one  of the individuals you entreat others to listen to. 

36 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

You misread what I said. I'm not a technical person. That's why I quote the professionals who specialize in the topic. and, clearly attribute the source.

 

I have confidence that the Nabu organization etc know what they talking about, and clearly the NGOs have had an influence on the governmental bodies. The question is whether it is enough. For decades, ships have been allowed to burn dirty fuel over the open seas. Has to stop. How soon will the old clinkers be phased out?

 

The goal is zero GHG emissions. What is the growth rate needed in renewal energy. Technology and problems solving in tandem. 

 

I am careful in the matter of analysis. I can tell when someone is firing blanks.

Your lack of STEM education is very evident from your writing, however if you are as you say, truly careful  in your analysis, then please read with an open mind the information contained in the paper at this link, https://economics21.org/inconvenient-realities-new-energy-economy  The author of the paper is a highly regarded  physicist. be wary of the information you glean from the MSM.