Live: A grouch's Veendam Hawaii cruise, January 2015.

[whogo]

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Wednesday, February 4, 2015, Sailing towards Ensenada

It is a great cruise. Yesterday, Mrs. Whogo attended her first movie of the cruise in the Wajang Theater, “One Chance”, about an amateur opera singer who wins Britain's Got Talent. She gave the movie two thumbs up.

Tasty Filipino dishes were a hit with us in the Lido last night. It is amazing how much faster a meal goes in the Lido. Lido was uncrowded. Eating three meals per day in the dining room might eat up 4 ½ hours of your day. I may have to rethink our dining options.

Elvy Rose put on a high energy Charo like act in the showroom. She could really belt out a song and hold a note. Enthusiastic early show crowd was appreciative, don't know she would handle a smaller, sleepier late show crowd.

Someone asked about any special Hawaiian activities onboard. A couple of Hawaiians gave hula lessons, another lectured (not a good speaker in my book), another performed and spoke about the ukelele and there were ukelele lessons. The ukelele lecture was too slow for me, seemed like it was geared to 10 year olds. The women learning the hula looked like they were having fun, though. I saw some of the activities going on, did not take part.

Location guide Lisa also gives some lectures, I much prefer the more cerebral guest lecturers of old.

Out on deck 12 at dawn this morning, the wind made walking difficult. GPS showed us driving 19-20 mph 1604 miles from Hilo and 928 miles to Ensenada which we should reach on Friday. The GPS also told me it is 4106 miles to Ensenada, Puerto Rico and even farther to Ensenada, Argentina before I found the proper Ensenada.

To avoid the wind I jogged a mile on the corridors of the Neptune Suite deck before doing a few laps on deck 9 before testing the winds on the promenade deck. The wind was a little lighter and walking was not too bad. Interesting wind tunnel effect blew you through the enclosed forward section of the deck. As usual, I was passed repeatedly and the really infirm were not out for me to pass.

The captain has warned of increased coughs and colds onboard and recommends washing hands about 20 times per day, not just three times before meals, and after touching germy door handles, railings, and elevator buttons. I have not heard that many coughs and sneezes, it is nothing like our last cruise.

Captain also warned us to keep our fingers out of door jambs and to watch our step, use hand railings, and wear sensible shoes. His warning may be in response to recent injuries. I have seen some new looking orthopedic boots, a banged up face (I heard the wind blew him over), and a huge bandage on some fingers. There are plenty of opportunities for injury.

We were cordially invited to the Mariner Society reception where we would receive a bronze medallion. Invited to the Ocean Bar for a pre-reception drink at 10:30, we checked in to find the Ocean Bar closed off and stacked with “art” for an upcoming auction. We were told that Henry would take us to our seats in the showroom instead. Henry walked us a few steps to the stairs. We were offered mimosas and bubbly, but it was too early for me to drink. Those sitting near us were in no mood chat. It was a long 30 minutes before the awards started with 83 cruisers receiving what were now referred to as copper, not bronze medallions.

Lots of no shows among the bronze and/or copper recipients. Half the audience stood to be recognized as four star mariners and the five star mariners came front and center for a photo with the captain and hotel director. The leading couple with 1408 days and others were no shows. How many photos do you need?

Employment anniversaries were also noted with a baker recognized for 20 years with Holland America.

Told we would be guided to the dining room, we weren't, but found it on deck 7, a madhouse. Even with the limited menu service was slow. Tiles were passed out after a number of cruisers had left the room. We never have to go to another mariner reception.

The stress is getting to me. My room steward keeps leaving new bars of the Elemis soap that I have to hide before Mrs. Whogo sees that the yellow dye is missing. I have to stow the laundry before Mrs. Whogo sees that the gold stickers are missing. We return every night to a different towel animal on the bed. Towel animals are a source of stress. My wife loves them and can not stand to see them abused. I can't leave them on the bed, but can't move them easily. At the very least the eyes fall off. Tonight's pig lost its head in the move and I could not get it back in place. Mrs. Whogo is upset with me. Soap... Gold stickers... Towel animals... Stress...

[freestyling]

:D...thanks for diminishing my stress.

[POA1]

Congratulations on your bronze-like medallion!

[4boysnana]

Thank you for a great review.:) I have had a very enjoyable time reading this and I look forward to your posts.

 

Smooth sailing and good luck with the joggers and your stress level.

 

I wish we could contribute to your internet fund.

 

 

 

4boysnana

[erewhon]

Thanks for continuing your great reports.

Congratulations on receiving your Copper Medallions.

[whogo]

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Thursday, February 5, 2015, Sailing toward Ensenada

Having a great cruise. I am embarrassed by typos in this report, I don't proofread well.

I will quit reporting trivia losses, just assume that I did so twice each day. An orange, avocado, grilled shrimp salad disappointed at last night's dinner with five little shrimp and a couple small cubes of avocado among some bruised greens. We made it to the first show, a variety show with the last three performers. The jazz group aboard had a non-exclusive 10 PM performance at the Lido pool, I listened a while. Dixieland jazz is nice, upbeat music that makes me smile. New England clam chowder was popular and appropriate at the New England late night buffet.

This morning found us traveling at 19 mph 2010 miles from Hilo with 520 miles to go to arrive in Ensenada at noon Friday. The captain says we are traveling what sounds like a “rump” line, a steady course of 71° rather than a great circle route which would be just 35 miles shorter.

Pleasant temperatures and little wind made walking on deck 12 and the promenade deck a pleasure, also did a lap on the Neptune suite deck. The deck washing crew is used to me, I no longer think they are laughing at me, the novelty has worn off. I made my usual inspection of my lifeboat on the walk, finding the hull and propellor in good condition. The reflectors and hand rails on the bottom worry me. Under what circumstances would they be needed? My life boat has only one propellor, the tenders two. On my next cruise I will see how far I get asking to switch my assigned lifeboat to a tender.

No prunes again. Don't panic, but you might consider taking your own. The milk is now that dreadful super pasteurized stuff that tastes charred and nasty and has an expiry date in September. I won't be drinking it. There was no lettuce at lunch, we may have exceeded the use by date of some perishables since taking on supplies on January 20.

The Crow's Nest was packed for coffee chat with the captain who explained more about the pilot's rescue. He said he was concerned about lowering and recovering a rescue boat in 40 foot swells which was a great story until he said more clearly that it was 14, not 40 foot swells. He admitted that it may be 40 foot swells as he improves the story with age.

The plane splashed down about 3 miles ahead of the Veendam, the captain sped up for a bit. He did not want to sail too close to the plane, getting a parachute tangled in the propellors would make for a different story. Six crew members were on the rescue boat, tender 2; the first officer, another officer, an engineering officer, medical staff and two riggers. Recovering the boat was more difficult than launching it, as always, taking about twenty minutes.

Bummer. Returned to our cabin to find the disembarkation envelope with one page of information. Remember when it took a one hour meeting and 3 pages of information to get you off the ship? We have received two tons of printed material in our mail slot, all but 7 ounces of it was unwanted advertisements.

Indonesian tea was well attended. I did not learn the Indonesian name of the coconut crepe I ate.

A cabin maintenance request made by phone was taken care of the same day. Requests made through nearby supervisory staff for things like soap in a public restroom or refill of paper towels are met with slack jawed puzzled looks. The proper response is, “I'll see that it is reported, sir.” Instead I am expected to find the employee who is in charge of accepting reports that paper towels need refill. I do not expect a random employee to immediately address the problem, but I expect him to report it to his boss who can report it to his boss, etc, until some boss can tell some underling to see that it is fixed. I feel stupid putting my hands in an automated hand washer only to see the display change to read that it is out of soap as it is spraying my hands with water. I have given up reporting problems in public spaces.

Sorry if this report and others sound negative, Mrs. Whogo and I are having a great cruise. Assume everything I don't complain about is wonderful, I told you I don't gush. I will report my pleasure at seeing a crew member fetch a seat for a woman who sat on the floor at the coffee chat this morning and helped her off the floor onto it. She confessed later that she did not know how she was going to get up.

[Coolcruise02]

Loved your live review!

[Himself]

Well, we hope you are still sailing with HAL for yonks for ever!

 

I heard from ROTTEDAM came into New York after a World Cruise 100+ years ago... group of passenger standing at the rail shouting, "WE MADE IT! WE MADE IT!"

 

Good safe voyages for you!

 

They might still be on the Rotterdam!

[Himself]

Thank you for a very creative review. The last time I saw a report with style--your reports have a lot of style--was when TOMC was writing of his cruises. You are very creative and humorous. Keep up the good work and don't cause waves in Ensenada tomorrow.

[goodroe]

I will second that - very creative and humorous. Who cares about typos when the reading is so entertaining. Thank you again.

[whogo]

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February 6, 2015

Did not tally dinner jackets/suits/sport coats at last night's formal dinner. Mrs. Whogo and the rest of our table were well decked out. Mrs. Whogo was lovely again. Chairs were covered and the expensive food was on the menu; snails and surf and turf. Table mates said the fishy, miniscule (what is smaller than a pea and bigger than a BB?) dab of lumpy jelly on the duck pate dish was caviar, who knew? All was delicious.

We had seen Encore, the show with the featured singers before, still a great show. The biggest crowd yet for the late show included a gaggle of cruisers who had seen the first show. Do not know how they could call the songs classics when there was no Chuck Berry.

It was elbow to elbow on the dance floor at the black and white ball with maybe 15 officers still available for dancing. Partners were available, space was tight. The late night buffet's theme was France, I should have tried some bouillabaisse.

This clear and hazy morning the GPS said we were traveling at 18 mph, 2477 miles from Hilo and 49.3 miles from Ensenada, pleasant walking conditions again. Lazy morning reading, then returned to our cabin to find the luggage mats out. The packing job is going better than expected, maybe I am missing a closet or drawer full of stuff. I packed my suit a new way for this trip, folding it neatly and placing it in a large ziplock bag with an air cushion left. It worked, no wrinkles. Video available of the method is on YouTube, I was not as precise as the fellow doing the demonstration.

The captain had us tied up at the pier before noon without my having to get involved in piloting the ship. I expected a tourist office on the pier and a massive flag nearby and found there was no tourist office and the massive flagpole was empty. We just walked about the shopping street that seems just like other shopping streets for tourists in Mexico, similar products, similar people trying to get you into their shop, it all blends together. Take note of an interesting hat one place and then see the same hat six more times down the street.

We visited the Ensenada Historical Museum, had no idea there were so many missions in Baja California. Reproductions of maps of the area through the centuries were most interesting, I could not tell which, if any, artifacts were original.

It ain't over yet, but I probably won't post again until we are home. Eighteen days is not too many for us, we could gladly stay on another thirteen days to Ft. Lauderdale if not for responsibilities at home. Mrs. Whogo thought there were too many sea days. It is an odd itinerary with five sea day, six port days, then five sea days.

Our room steward has been excellent and more visible than on other cruises. Mario is the most talented cruise director I have seen, did a great rendition of “Mustang Sally” in the piano bar. He ran a good trivia game and understood the answers, unlike our last cruise director. I don't need his sales announcements or his telling me to applaud, but they all have to do it. Mario's assistant, Phil, whatever his title was, did a great job at pub trivia, “olympic” games, Name That Tune and other things. He seemed to always be on the go. Lee brought a good crowd to the piano bar, I only stayed for his Name That Tune contests.

Ah! The laundry is back, the missing piece that will bulk up the luggage. Thanks for following along on our cruise, it is hard to compete with the world cruise blogs.

[freestyling]

I have enjoyed reading about your travels and look forward to the final report.

[SilvertoGold]

whogo

 

You are much funnier that those writing the WC blogs!

Appreciate this humor and excellent posts.

 

How about another cruise soon and another great blog? Looking forward to that!

[erewhon]

whogo,

 

Again, thank you for your cruise reports......appreciate your humour.

 

Wishing you safe travelling home.

[nutensteve]

Thanks for the great review whogo .... you have a great sense of humor. I have added this cruise to my list of must "do" cruises.

[57redbird]

adding my thank you to the others....have enjoyed your posts.

[Stratheden]

Thanks Mr Whogo. Loved your reports. Glad you and Mrs Whogo had a great cruise.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Stratheden

[Laurie22]

Thank you Whogo for sharing your adventure with Mrs. Whogo on your amazing cruise. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog! Much appreciated.:D

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Enjoyed your posts...thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[madera1]

Thanks again for blogging.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[RMLincoln]

Oh Whogo, wish you could stay on the cruise and keep telling us of your insights, which are refreshingly natural. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Will miss you. Wishing you and Mrs. Whogo safe home and all well there. m--

[ger_77]

[ I packed my suit a new way for this trip, folding it neatly and placing it in a large ziplock bag with an air cushion left. It worked, no wrinkles. Video available of the method is on YouTube, I was not as precise as the fellow doing the demonstration. [/font]

 

Mario is the most talented cruise director I have seen, did a great rendition of “Mustang Sally” in the piano bar. He ran a good trivia game and understood the answers, unlike our last cruise director. [/size]

 

I have used this method to pack DH's tux for a number of years and it works so well. After 3 days in a zip-lock all we did was hang it in the bathroom while DH showered and any little wrinkles just disappeared.

 

I also agree with your observations of Mario - he was the CD on our trans-Atlantic this past November and he was a delight. Our previous CD was quite bland by comparison.

 

Thank you for taking us along with you & Mrs. Whogo; I think we've all enjoyed reading about your time on and off the ship. Safe travels home.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[whogo]

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Saturday, February 7, 2015, San Diego debarkation

The cruise log delivered Friday night stated in advance that we arrived at San Diego at 6:00 AM Saturday. That is confidence! We sailed 5160.8 miles at an average speed of 13.7, I will assume the units are nautical miles and knots. Captain Eric MJ van der Wal, Hotel Director Randall Corcoran and Cruise Director Mario Vines and the entire ship's complement thanked me for choosing Holland America.

Prime rib in the dining room, I have never eaten so much red meat as on this cruise, usually I eat a lot of fish. I watched 2 minutes of Dancing with the Stars and finished packing.

It has been a good cruise, won't go down as our favorite, it's the itinerary. Almost everything went well and everything that did not has been mentioned above except our Pinnacle Grill experience.

The Pinnacle Grill is not for us. We find the food a little better than the main dining room and the service worse. I think enough time has gone by that I can tell this without being identified. Others will like what we disliked. We found the service intrusive. We were constantly interrupted. Waitstaff should fill our water glasses without saying, “Excuse me” to both of us every time. We were asked four times by four different people if everything was alright with our main dish. I was asked by each of three people if I wanted mint jelly. One staff members shoes squeaked with every step. The Pinnacle Grill is a lovely room, the place settings are nice and I like the subdued atmosphere. The waiters should not intrude, but should wait for me to raise an eyebrow to ask what they can do for me.

Our fellow cruisers were wonderful. Annoying women #1 and #2 were good company at other times. Cruisers were mostly from the USA. There were plenty of Canadians and a few Brits. There were only two children, about four years old, both well behaved. Most of the rest were retirement age. Some had retired children.

At 8:00 today foreigners were lined up from the library through the casino for immigration check. I hope all goes quickly, we do not have time to spare getting to the airport. After 18 days onboard I feel I know my way around the ship. I have mastered the light switches. This morning I went up the forward staircase and arrived at the top of the aft staircase. Next cruise I may have to wear a sign around my neck, “If found wandering, please return to Mrs. Whogo”.

Thanks for reading, thanks for the praise.

[Mtn2Sea]

Thanks for taking the time to write such an entertaining review. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[pv girl]

Really enjoyed your comments. Hope you and your lovely wife have a safe and uneventful trip home - though some "events" would lead to another fun post to read. Book another cruise soon so we can do this again!