Live from MS Zaandam April 27 - May 15, 2016

[Alberta Quilter]

I'm sorry for the late report; I've been enjoying my cruise!

 

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

 

Land at last!! The stern thrusters woke us up this morning, after six. We got ready and then sat and waited for our room service breakfast to arrive. We requested it to come between 7 and 7:30; it came at 7:25. Had we realized that we were going to be awakened so early, we would have ticked an earlier time. They had opened the Lido earlier than usual to accommodate the earlier departure times for some of the shorex. In hindsight, we should have just gone to the Lido; it would have been faster since most pax on this cruise need/want to be served and went to the MDR.

 

We have gone almost totally private with our shorex for this cruise. What with the CAD/USD exchange rate being at 30 - 40% at the time I did my research, there was no way that we could afford to pay a 40% premium on HAL's prices. From reviewing past posts in the Hawaii forum, I found out about Roberts Hawaii. They had such a deal: five excursions for US$150. They had other combo packages, too, for three and four excursions for lesser amounts. However, the number of tours available through this package is limited. There may only be one to three available for a port of call, and they seem to be limited to the main touristy things to do so if one had done before, this is probably not the right company for you. Before committing my money (yes, you had to pay ahead), I checked reviews further in CC and on TripAdvisor to find good reviews about their tours. There were some negative reviews but those were mostly for airport shuttles. So, we selected, booked and paid for our tours a few months ago.

 

For Honolulu, we chose Pearl Harbor and tour of Honolulu. HAL offered the same tour for about $20 more per person. We left before 9 (there were only six of us on the tour plus the guide/driver) so when all were there, we left. The guide drove right to PH, it took about 20/25 minutes. We were told that no bags are allowed at PH but they were. The bags just had to be searched. We even checked with the shorex dept on the ship because we thought that a small bag might be permitted but we were told that if it offered concealment, it wouldn't be allowed. So, we paid to check our bags. Big mistake I made was taking out only $10 to pay for the checking of our bags ($3/bag) so I only had $4 in change to pay for anything onsite. I only took my cell phone which I've been using as my camera and our tour tickets. I only had my sunglasses on which made it a little dark to read some exhibit panels. If I come again, I would take a small purse with some cash, credit card and let them search it. However, if the crowds were larger, I could see it taking more time to search everything. We were told that it is at the discretion of the security officer as to whether or not the bag is permitted. Needless to say, there wasn't much one could purchase with only $4!

 

Once inside PH, our guide set us free to explore the various buildings on our own. We had tickets for the Arizona Memorial at 11:15 and had to be there by 11:10. So we went through a couple of exhibits, one was about events leading up to the attack and one was on the attack itself. It was really good that we saw the movie onboard the ship as the movie helped us visualize the events and the exhibits helped us understand parts of the movie.

 

We arrived at the building to start the Arizona Memorial around 11 am and were lucky to get seats on some benches at the side. When one of the workers there saw the handicap people sitting where we were, he allowed them (including us) to go forward of the barricade to sit there. Then we were allowed to precede the main group and sit in the theatre wherever we wanted. First we watched a movie which lasted about 20 minutes and went over some of the same info in the exhibits. After the movie, we went outside on the other side from which we entered the theatre, to go to the boat dock to get on the boat to ferry us over to the Memorial. That ride took less than 10 minutes. We didn't have long at the Memorial but it was long enough, maybe 15 minutes. The building is built perpendicular to the ship, right over the Arizona. There are buoys attached at each end of the ship so that one can see how long it is. There are open windows on each side of the Memorial so that one can look out at the various parts of the ship, under the water. At the farthest end of the Memorial, there is a listing of all 1177 men who died in the Arizona. There is an open floor area in which one can look down in the water to see the ship. I believe it is there that any survivors of the Arizona can have their cremains entombed, with their former shipmates, upon their passing.

 

We then went on our tour of Honolulu and Waikiki, the beach was not as busy as we thought it would be. We returned to the ship at 2:30. We went to the Lido for a quick bite to eat and again tried the pre-made sandwiches. DM tried the pear and Brie sandwich but it was soggy from a tomato slice. We should have shared something from room service. DM was not hungry when it was time for dinner.

 

There were only four of us at dinner tonight as two went to a lua'u. I"m sorry, I can't remember what we had for dinner; I guess it was memorable!! After dinner, DM and I went to see Aloha in the Wajang Theatre; I fell asleep during part of it but it seemed to be an okay movie. I got my second wind because I worked on the jigsaw puzzle until 11:15 which is late for me!

[Alberta Quilter]

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

 

Honolulu, Day 2

 

Today we had another tour with Roberts Hawaii, this time a scenic coastal tour through Waikiki, to Hanauma Bay, the Halona blowhole, and up the Pali highway to the lookout. The day started off really nicely but that changed a wee bit as the day went on. The rain started when we were at a shop after seeing the blowhole. The guide thought that the low cloud might lift by the time we got to the lookout but he was wrong. It did lift a bit so that we could see past the coastline and see the islands in the distance but then it dropped again so one couldn't even see the coastline. That was disappointing but that's Mother Nature for you. The rain/mist pretty much lasted until we got back to the ship. We were back well in early, while the full buffet was still being served in the Lido. Team Trivia is now being scheduled at 4 pm in the Crow's Nest so we can have a drink at Happy Hour prices while we play! The alcohol didn't help our score, though.

 

I've been pre-ordering my evening meals due to dietary restrictions. This normally has gone very well in past cruises but, on this one, I've usually been served later than the others. Tonight, the others were almost finished with their entree when I was finally served mine. When the Assistant MDR Manager came around, he told us that there are 300 people onboard with dietary restrictions, all of them seem to be at early dining and there are only three chefs to prepare the special meals. That put things into perspective for me, although I did tell him that my red wine braised brisket was well worth the wait. It was very good.

 

The show tonight was the Zaandam singers and dancers in Heat. We did not go to the show but I heard that it wasn't terribly good and it was short; it was over by 8:30. DM stayed in the room and read; she's onto the second book of the book club selection which is Honolulu by the same author as Molokai. I went to the puzzle again. I think it got finished last night. We were very close when I left to go to bed.

[Alberta Quilter]

Thursday, May 5, 2016

 

Hilo

 

We arrived in Hilo about 7:45 am and were cleared shortly after 8 am. DM and I were ready for our tour to Volcano National Park. I had suggested to DM that she pack her hiking boots and her trekking poles which turned out to be a good thing for today's tour.

 

This was our third tour, so far, with Roberts Hawaii. There were 21 of us today, much more than the 6 we've had on the two previous days. After leaving the port, we drove around Banyan Drive to see the banyan trees that famous people had planted over the years. These trees are HUGE! Then we drove to Rainbow Falls, which was a very pretty waterfall where the mist forms a rainbow. After that, we drove to the Park, heading right past steam vents, to Jagger Museum. From there we could see the caldera and the crater, within the caldera, which was steaming. The guide told us that he had seen an eruption two nights ago but he was told that the magma had dropped 60 feet since then so there was little chance of seeing anything other than steam today.

 

On the way back out of VNP, we stopped at the steam vents. There were two steaming pits which had railings around them. The steam coming out was VERY warm; it was really quite neat to see them up close. For some reason, some people choose to throw coins in the steam vents. The guide didn't know why. We then stopped at a lava field from about 40 years ago. We were able to walk on the lava for a short time, if we wanted to. I took a few pics but that was about it.

 

After leaving VNP, we stopped at an orchid nursery for a few minutes. Honestly the gift shop was larger than the orchid shop. They recently set up an orchid maze which one could pay to walk through. The guide told us not to waste our money; it would be good if one needed ideas on how to display orchids but that was about it.

 

On the way back to the ship, we stopped at Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm/Factory where we saw macadamia nut trees but also papaya trees. As we had never seen papaya trees before, we found that glimpse of them interesting. At the factory, we had a very nutritious lunch of macadamia nut ice cream! DM had vanilla; I had chocolate. DM felt that the macadamia nut ice cream on the ship was better than that at the factory. The gift shop at the factory was packed with people! The ship tours went there, too, so there were some people that we recognized. Also, a Princess ship was in port with us so they were there, too.

 

Our guide then took us to the Big Island Candies shop/factory. We were given samples on the way in and then had to, yes, HAD TO, find other free samples on the shelves within the shop. This was quite tame after the Mauna Loa shop, with much fewer people.

 

We arrived back at the ship at 3 pm, almost six hours after leaving. It was quite a long tour for only $30/person! Security was very tight at this port. As we arrived on our shuttle bus, a port agent came onboard to check our ID along with our ship card. Of course, we put our driver's licenses away, only to be requested for it again by the next agent after we got off of the bus. We had to put our bags on a table; some bags were searched, others were not. We were wanded by another agent. And, of course, we had to show our ship card upon return to the ship as usual.

 

The entertainment tonight was Elika Santos, Hawaii's 2010 male star of the year. I stayed for most of the show and thought he was very good. He did some Hawaiian language songs as well as others that many know, from the Rat Pack. One of the ladies from the On Location Hawaii team danced to one of his songs, and another woman danced to a couple of the songs. I left a little early only to get out of the theatre before all of the walkers/wheelchairs and generally slow people.

 

It was a long, but good day. I was quite tired so actually went to bed before DM; I wasn't even up to working on the puzzle.

[Alberta Quilter]

Friday, My 6, 2016

 

Kona, Hawaii

 

Today was to be an easy day for us. We booked a HAL tour, our one and only HAL tour. We were going to see seahorses! The tour is called the Magical Seahorse Discovery. The seahorse farm is the only one in the US.

 

Kona is a tender port and motion of the ocean caused some delays. Of course the HAL tour guests had priority over independent guests. We received a letter the evening before, which I didn't see (and DM hadn't realized was there) about the tendering process. As we are now 4 star Mariners, we were very much interested in the process for Lahaina tomorrow as we are on another private tour. Almost everyone has to get a tender ticket. The only guests who do not require a tender ticket are those staying in a suite and have a gold coloured key card. (I assume those to be Neptune Suites and not Verandah Suites but the letter does not distinguish between types of suites other than the gold coloured key card.) The 4 and 5 star Mariners get a red coloured tender ticket, the independents gets a blue coloured tender ticket. Those on a HAL tour get their tour sticker and are called by that number/colour combination. When a tender is ready, the HAL tour is called first. If there is room in the tender, then some Red tender ticket numbers are called. If there is still room, then the blue ones would be called.

 

We didn't have long of a wait; our tour number was called about ten minutes after our tour was to have started. I was told by one person who went on an independent tour (with Roberts Hawaii) that they waited for an hour for the guest held up by the tendering process but couldn't wait any longer than that. The guest who told me that was a 4 star mariner who went over much earlier than required to ensure she was on time for the tour. That's what we plan to do tomorrow for Lahaina. Hopefully, it will go easier then for the non priority guests.

 

Back to the seahorses! The drive took about fifteen/twenty minutes to the seahorse farm just south of the Kona airport. Upon arrival, a staff member came on the bus to hand out paper towels for us to use. We had to wash our hands and arms up to the elbow for when we handled a seahorse. Just a note of caution for those of you with small children, kids under the age of 3 will not be able to handle a seahorse. This is written right in the tour description.

 

First we were told that seahorse population have dwindled considerably in recent years. This is due mostly to the seahorses being caught in shrimp trawling nets. The other threat is that that people want them in their fish tanks because they are cute and different. But they don't survive long in fish tanks because they are hunters and need to hunt for their food, and they mate for life and don't survive without their mate. If they can't hunt and they don't have their mate, they don't eat. Their life span in a fish tank is about a month. With these farmed seahorses, they have found food (frozen shrimp from Canada), and if these ones lose their mates, they can survive without them. These seahorses are living 8 - 10 years and even 15 years.

 

We were then led to a small pond filled with brackish water. The water was filled with shrimp that come through the lava tubes from the ocean. They do nothing to maintain this pond but they harvest the shrimp to feed the baby seahorses. The shrimp are the tiniest I've ever seen; they were smaller than the white part of my baby fingernail.

 

We entered the building to see rows of tanks. The first tanks contained the baby seahorses. Some were born this morning, some as old as 30 days. The smallest were about an inch long. It was a little hard to tell because it depended on whether or not their tail was curled. In the back of the building, in the second set of tanks, were the parents of the babies. The seahorse is ready to mate at ten months to a year. The female makes the eggs and deposits them in a pouch (like a kangaroo pouch) on the father's belly. He fertilizes the eggs and carries them to term which is 30 days. He gives birth to them all (250 - 300) in about a minute. Then the female comes right afterwards and deposits the next set of eggs. The male is always pregnant!! The males have huge bellies which is how one can tell a male from a female.

 

After seeing the seahorses in various sizes, we then got to hold a seahorse. Well it was more like they got to hold you! We held our hands, underwater, with fingers apart, touching the fingertips of one hand to the fingertips of the other hand, making a kind of ladder. The biologist then brought a seahorse to us, hooking the tail around our finger. Your partner had to be ready with the camera. The seahorse doesn't do anything; it just sits there on your finger. You have to make sure that he doesn't get above the water level because they breathe only in the water. We only held him for a few minutes; which was long enough to get some pictures and look at him.

 

We then got to go through the back of the main building where they have different varieties of seahorses, colourful ones, in tanks. We could take pictures most of the time but without flash. We could not take pictures of the baby seahorses at all.

 

Then it was back to the bus, and back to Kona. We walked to the ABC Store right near the tender pier and poked about. I bought some Sweet Maui Onion potato chips but that was it. The macadamia nuts were a slightly higher price than the factory nuts that we bought the other day.

 

We went back to the ship for lunch and to rest up. Trivia was lost again. We have a good team, though. It's nice to have a good group of people who are just there to enjoy the game and don't take it very seriously.

 

Dinner was enjoyable. We each ordered a different entree. There was Gorgonzola linguine, Mahi Mahi, duck, a Pacific Rim salad, Hawaiian lua'u (which consisted of Maui ribs, chicken and something else). I had braised oxtail. I've never had that before; it was quite good but a little difficult to extract the meat. I'm not sure I would order it again for that reason. It may not have been braised long enough since it didn't fall off the bone, though.

 

The entertainment was another show by the Zaandam singers and dancers so we skipped it. DM read in the cabin while I worked on the puzzle for a while.

 

Another good day on a lovely cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Catching Up

Wonderful reports.

[Sue from Canada]

AQ - I've been anxiously waiting for your next report(s). Very interesting and detailed. Do you recommend the seahorse tour in Kona? What type of vehicles does Roberts Tours use? Thanks very much for taking the time to write all these reports. Have you run into Tink much?

Edited May 8, 2016 by Sue from Canada

[POA1]

Excellent reporting! Thank you.

[Alberta Quilter]

Saturday, May 6, 2016

 

Lahaina, Maui

 

We arrived in Lahaina about an hour earlier than expected. Because of that, the tender process went much more smoothly this morning. In fact, they were able to tender independents first thing, with no tender tickets required, since it was too early for the HAL tours. We used our 4 star card to get a red tender ticket and only had to wait for about ten to fifteen minutes to be called to board a tender. It worked very well except that some people got soaked on the tender ride over when water splashed into the tender. DM was lucky because she was originally guided to sit in the spots that got hit with the wave of water. We did get a little water but the people across from us got drenched and were sitting in water the rest of the ride.

 

We arrived about 15 minutes prior to our Roberts Hawaii tour to the top of Haleakala, Maui's volcano. The weather looked good in Lahaina but the top of Haleakala was shrouded in cloud. It took about an hour/hour and a half to get there. We stopped once along the way for a bathroom break and to get something to eat for lunch during the tour. We stopped at the first visitor centre in the Haleakala National Park. I asked the ranger if there was any hope for a clear view and she said it was not likely. It was disappointing but no one can do anything about it. It was raining a bit, too, off and on. We got up to the second visitor centre at 9700 feet. There are some trails that one can hike on that will take you higher. There was little to look at since it was so foggy. The clouds would break for a few seconds and then close up again.

 

The guide drove us a little farther up, where the big tour buses could not go, to the 10,000 foot level. There were silversword plants blooming or starting to bloom up there. These plants are mounds of silver fronds; tight balls that loosen up and, when it is ready to bloom, the centre spikes up so it looks like a sword. Then it branches out, I'd like to say it's like a bullrush but it really isn't. Just imagine the shape of a bullrush but much larger and looser and then blossoms of red at the end of the branches. I did take pictures so when I get home I'll try to post them. One was in full bloom but it was in the distance. These things are probably four or five feet tall, maybe even larger, when in full bloom. It really is a sight to see. We saw others that were about to get to the sword stage. These plants live for up to 50 years but once they bloom, they die. When they bloom, they produce about 50,000 seeds. They are only found in the wild on Haleakala. I think seeing those plants made the tour for DM and me.

 

We then drove back to Lahaina which took a little longer because, for some reason, we had traffic issues. We arrived 15 minutes later than planned but still had plenty of time for All Aboard. WE had asked the guide to drop us off at Hilo Hattie's but he forgot and took us all to the tender pier. DM really wanted to go to Hilo Hattie's so we walked there and back. Unfortunately, the store did not live up to her expectations so we left without buying anything. Our tender trip back to the ship was totally uneventful. There were only six of us on the tender which was nice.

 

We arrived back on the ship too late for dinner in the dining room. There was a Hawaiian BBQ served by the Lido pool so we decided to go there for dinner. We met up with a couple of CC friends and ate with them. It was nice and relaxing. After dinner, we dropped by the MDR so I could place my special order for tomorrow's dinner. DM went back to the cabin to read, while I went to the puzzle table where I spent an enjoyable evening. The current puzzle is a particularly challenging one of tulips at Keukenhof Gardens. Another CC member and I are enjoying the process!

 

The entertainment tonight in the show lounge was a magician/comedian, Nick Nickolas. I hadn't read that part of the On Location last night so missed it entirely.

[Alberta Quilter]

AQ - I've been anxiously waiting for your next report(s). Very interesting and detailed. Do you recommend the seahorse tour in Kona? What type of vehicles does Roberts Tours use? Thanks very much for taking the time to write all these reports. Have you run into Tink much?

 

Yes, I do recommend the seahorse tour. It's expensive but I think when I looked into doing it independently, it wasn't much cheaper when one factors in the transportation costs to and fro. They seem to do tours only for two hours a day, Monday to Friday. The website is http://www.seahorse.com, if you want to check them out. Some more.

 

Roberts Hawaii has several different sizes of buses. The ones we've been in for most of our tours are shuttle buses which fit about 20 people. We had a larger one for our group of 21 the other day. Then there are huge motorcoaches, which is what HAL hired for our seahorse tour; that fit at least 50 people.

 

Yes, we've seen Tink quite a bit. We play trivia together. She sits near us at dinner and we had dinner together at the Hawaiian BBQ tonight. I did tell her hi from you!

[Sue from Canada]

Yes, I do recommend the seahorse tour. It's expensive but I think when I looked into doing it independently, it wasn't much cheaper when one factors in the transportation costs to and fro. They seem to do tours only for two hours a day, Monday to Friday. The website is http://www.seahorse.com, if you want to check them out. Some more.

 

Roberts Hawaii has several different sizes of buses. The ones we've been in for most of our tours are shuttle buses which fit about 20 people. We had a larger one for our group of 21 the other day. Then there are huge motorcoaches, which is what HAL hired for our seahorse tour; that fit at least 50 people.

 

Yes, we've seen Tink quite a bit. We play trivia together. She sits near us at dinner and we had dinner together at the Hawaiian BBQ tonight. I did tell her hi from you!

 

Thanks AQ for answering my questions. I'll book the seahorse tour for next April. Looking forward to your next post. Keep having fun.

[Alberta Quilter]

Sunday, May 8, 2016

 

Nawiliwili, Kauai

 

Our last port in Hawaii! Roberts Hawaii had three tour options for Kauai. We had booked a scenic tour of Hanalei but, apparently, there weren't enough people booked for the tour so we got moved to a tour of the Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. There were only six of us on the tour. One of the other couples also got moved to this tour for the same reason; they had chosen the third tour option originally. Well, we were glad we were moved to the Waimea Canyon tour. We really didn't know anything about either place but the Waimea Canyon is stunning.

 

Our guide today was Mickey, originally from Florida, our first non Hawaiian guide. He took us to several places, starting with the Spouting Horn. This was another blowhole but much better than the one on Oahu. When the wave came in, this one spouted many feet (I'm terrible with distances but I would guess about 30 feet) into the air, making a low horn sound as it happened. I think I got some decent pics of it so will try to post them when I get home.

 

Mickey pointed out some interesting things along the way, such as cacti that one normally sees in the Arizona desert, was also growing on Kauai. He also regaled us with stories of movies shot on Kauai, such as Jurassic Park (all of them), the Indiana Jones jungle scenes, etc.

 

After the Spouting Horn, we went to the Kauai Coffee Plantation where DM purchased some coffee. She had been looking for coffee to bring back with us but the prices were ridiculous. These coffee prices were more acceptable to her.

 

Then it was off to the Waimea Canyon. The road was very winding, so much so that I started to feel sick. Funny how I'm fairly good on a cruise but get me on a winding road and I feel the motion. Anyway, we got to the lookout, climbed the steps (before we realized there was a handicap access ramp), to look at the canyon. The colours were amazing. There were greens, oranges, reds, even blues. The natural terrain is red/orange like the Grand Canyon in Arizona due to the amount of iron in the soil. The green is from the lush growth throughout the canyon. I'm not sure where the blue came from but there was definitely some blue streaks. And there was a waterfall in the distance. Our guide got us to a better lookout point a little farther on the drive to get a different, closer angle of the waterfall before turning back and heading towards the highway.

 

We basically travelled the same way to and fro to the canyon but on the way back, we stopped at a gift shop with the nicest bathrooms. They also had a selection of shell jewellery from a neighbouring island. The shells are extremely tiny and in varying colours ranging from white to a red coral colour. The jewellery is extremely expensive; some of it shown in the shop is antique and not for sale. It's beautiful but a simple strand choker costs over US$800! It was lovely to see it, though.

 

We then headed back to the ship, arriving about 3:15. I attended to some business; they wanted our Canadian customs form in by Monday at 6 pm and I changed our Le Cirque reservation to add one of our CC members who didn't want to sit alone.

 

DM and I met with our trivia team at 4 pm and we won! We have yet another South Pacific pin (and bragging rights for a day)!

 

Dinner was pretty good last night. DM had crab cakes that were pretty good; I had Chicken Marsala that was very good. I can't remember what the others had but I think they were beef dishes.

 

The Captain came on the PA after the first show ended, to tell us that we had turned back to Nawiliwili to medically disembark a passenger and his wife. We had left Nawiliwili the first time during dinner, around 6 pm. We left the second time around midnight.

 

The entertainment last night was really good! The Island Magic Steeldrum Band played songs from Sound of Music, three Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, classical tunes and hymns. There were three drummers, two males and one female, and one drummer. It was really very good and surprising to hear those songs being played on a steel drum. They looked like they were enjoying themselves, too. It was standing room only for the first show, so much so that I left so that I could attend the second show. That was a wise decision because the second show had lots of available seats. It was funny because the musicians would play their hearts out, and after the enthusiastic response from the audience, the musician would offer a quiet Thank You. He did this after every song. By the end of the 40 minute set, after rousing renditions of the Can Can from Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach, and the William Tell Overture, it got quite humourous with the modest thank yous. We were told they would be performing again before Victoria.

 

By then it was too late for me to prepare and send this report. Plus we lost an hour last night now that we're on our way to Victoria.

[Been There, Planning That]

Alberta Quilter, I am enjoying all your posts. We did a similar cruise round trip from LA on Princess, so your review brings back happy memories.

 

You and your mum sure are active on the ship.

 

Enjoy, your return home,

 

Ruth

[Alberta Quilter]

Monday, May 9, 2016

 

Sailing towards Victoria, BC

 

Today was a busy sea day! After Good Morning, Zaandam!, we had the Mariner reception and the Mariner brunch. The reception was good, a little long but there were many people to get a medallion. There was to be no hand shaking, which is perfectly understandable. However, the Captain kissed every female recipient three times on the cheek! First the left side, then the right and then the left side again. We just found it a little odd, and frankly, would have preferred the handshake!! DM was invited to both the reception and the lunch; I was only invited to the lunch but I crashed the reception. I thought that only being invited to the lunch was a little odd because I'm supposed to have the same benefits as DM for this cruise (offically I'll be at the same level as DM on our next cruise).

 

The Mariner lunch was okay. The choices were Swai, beef or a vegetarian strata of spinach and cheese. I'm told the fruit crisp was very good; I didn't have it. The beef was a little tough and salty but then I'm used to low sodium meals. DM enjoyed the strata; she got a small portion and it was perfect for her. There is a second Mariner lunch tomorrow for the other 600 Mariners.

 

After lunch, there was Team Trivia. We lost. I continue to live in hope for a repeat win. The Tea today was the Royal Dutch tea which is the one tea that we like to attend. DM had a short nap so we went a little later. There weren't many people there which was a bit of a surprise. Maybe everyone was still full from the lunch. We didn't stay long; we just had a quick snack.

 

Tonight was Gala night. When I reviewed tonight's entree last night, there was crab on the menu which is what I chose. However, by the tonight, they changed the crab to salmon; I'm not sure why. So, I went with my second choice which was filet mignon with lobster ravioli. There was only one ravioli on top of the filet. It was good; there was a bit of claw meat in the ravioli, but I was a little surprised there was only one. Don't get me wrong; we certainly didn't starve! It's just that DM was also going to order the crab (as were others) and she didn't know what to have as she doesn't like red meat as much as I do. I had suggested that she order the same dish without the filet, and get only the ravioli. That wouldn't have worked, given that there was only one!! She ended up ordering the salmon, which, unfortunately was dry and overcooked.

 

The entertainment tonight was Colleen Williamson whom we have heard before. So, I spent the evening with the puzzle. We finished it finally at 10:30! I went straight to bed as I was exhausted. I was paying for losing that hour the day before.

[Alberta Quilter]

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

 

Sailing towards Victoria

 

We slept in today! We woke up at around 8:30; I had to rush to get breakfast and get to GMZ. DM chose a more leisurely rising and skipped GMZ. After GMZ, there was a coffee chat with the Captain. There were many questions but one that I found interesting was why did we go around the east side of an island instead of the west as indicated in the itinerary map. The Captain said that the pretty brochure maps are created by graphic designers and not by people who actually navigate the ships! The navigators of the ship choose the direction based on time, distance and fuel consumption. It makes sense but, I think, there is much reliance, by some guests, to choose an itinerary based on the brochure map. A few years ago, when the 14 day Alaska itinerary returned after a year or two off, the itinerary originally showed going one way through the Canadian inside passage and the other way out in open sea. It was later changed, to much dismay, to open sea both ways. I realize that many of us experienced cruisers don't rely solely on the map but some pax do.

 

I met up with DM later, for lunch, in the Lido before heading off to Team Trivia. Yes, you guessed it, we lost again. I made it to Stitch and Bitch for the second time this cruise. They have been mostly scheduled for the same times as GMZ and Trivia so I choose the other events instead. As a result, I'm not getting my project done. In fact, I found a boo boo that I made when I started the thing! I think I've figured out a way to fix it but I'll wait until I get home as it will be a bit of a tricky fix.

 

I then went to the cabin to write up and post my CC report for yesterday and then with that done, I had a nap. I woke up in time to get ready for dinner. Dinner was good. Two of us had Parmesan crusted chicken, a couple had the dinner salads, and two had spaghetti puttanesca.

 

The entertainment tonight was the Singers and Dancers again in Atlantic Crossing. We didn't go. Instead, we, for the first time ever, got a DVD from the Front Office and watched two episodes of Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren before retiring at 11:30. A very quiet day for us but another good day at sea.

[qsuzi]

Just found this thread. It's great to see that you and your mom are cruising. Love your style of writing and there is so much good information and tidbits. Must admit I visit the puzzle daily while onboard - one of the reasons I like HAL. Hope you and your mom stay healthy this trip and enjoy your time. How does the MS Zaandam compare with other HAL ships you have sailed on?

[Sue from Canada]

AQ - Thoroughly enjoying your postings. I can't believe you're on your way back!!! Seems you just left. Whoo hoo - you won at trivia. Glad to see you and your mum are enjoying the cruise. Enjoy the wonderful sea days ahead of you - I love sea days.

[ger_77]

 

The entertainment last night was really good! The Island Magic Steeldrum Band played songs from Sound of Music, three Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, classical tunes and hymns. There were three drummers, two males and one female, and one drummer. It was really very good and surprising to hear those songs being played on a steel drum. They looked like they were enjoying themselves, too. It was standing room only for the first show, so much so that I left so that I could attend the second show. That was a wise decision because the second show had lots of available seats. It was funny because the musicians would play their hearts out, and after the enthusiastic response from the audience, the musician would offer a quiet Thank You. He did this after every song.

 

We had the pleasure of seeing Island Magic on the Eurodam in February of this year - what a treat! We thought it would be the same old, same old steel pan tunes; absolutely not!! And yes, after each rousing response from the audience, just a quiet "Thank You." LOL Glad you're having a good time.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Alberta Quilter]

Thanks, everyone, for reading this and responding/asking questions. I just realized the boo-boo I made in my last report. Island Magic has three steel pan drummers and one regular drummer.

 

Zaandam is very similar to the Amsterdam. It has the same wonderful ladies bathroom outside of the upper dining room. The one thing that I'm not fond of on this class of ship is the break (for the galley) on deck 3 between the midship and aft elevators. One has to go up or down to get around the galley. But I do love that the Explorations Cafe is right outside the MDR! Of course, that makes it far too easy for me to be at the puzzle table for hours on end.

 

Yes, it does seem like we just left. Some are anxious to be home. I can't say the same. Yes, it will be good to be home but we still have some time left to enjoy ourselves.

[RuthC]

The one thing that I'm not fond of on this class of ship is the break (for the galley) on deck 3 between the midship and aft elevators. One has to go up or down to get around the galley.

True, but at least there is a staircase/elevator bank there. It doesn't dead-end like the S-class ships do, which was a big improvement over them.

I can't count the number of times I headed back on an S-class ship, then had to double back, before I learned. :rolleyes:

 

This has been fun riding along, and learning about Roberts for touring while on the islands. I have seen their big busses before, but didn't know there were smaller vehicles, too.

Now, I'm going to pretend I have a little more relaxing time at sea while you come back.

[Alberta Quilter]

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

 

Sailing towards Victoria

 

Today was a very quiet day for us. This will be a very boring report; my apologies in advance.

 

We woke up, well, one of us was awake, the other was more like the walking dead! I can't say who because of privacy concerns! That individual got up, dressed, and then laid down and fell asleep whilst the other was in the washroom. The other went up for breakfast; the sleepy one joined the other one a little later. We both went to GMZ (more on that later) and then the sleepy one went back to the room and had a nap! But that's what sea days are for, right?!

 

GMZ was a hoot, this morning. Bruce didn't show up! Alexa opened the show as was usually done. She said that they wanted to bring Hawaii back to us so they played some Hawaiian music. Well, out came Bruce in a grass skirt and a coconut bra over his regular clothing! During the course of the show, his bra started to hurt; it appeared to be tied on rather tightly so it was no surprise that it hurt. That led to a discussion about bra sizes and he was surprised that the cup size went to H (I think it goes even farther down the alphabet) and asked if anyone here wore an H. We all started to laugh and Alexa advised him that it's not polite to ask a woman her bra size. He hadn't realized that but said why not since it's not like one can hide them! It went downhill from there. Thankfully, this particular discussion happened after the interview with Jenna, the librarian.

 

We had a quiet morning after that. We went back to the cabin. DM had a morning nap while I prepared the prior day's report for CC. I later went to the library to work on the new puzzle, a colourful one of various purses. They had pulled out the edge pieces and were putting them together. DM came and got me in time for lunch; after all, we had to make sure we were ready for Team Trivia at 1 pm!

 

Well, I think we did our worst at trivia today. The same team that won yesterday, won again today. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, right?!

 

They had a wine market over lunch today. They seem to be wanting to get rid of their South American wine stock and were selling it at 10% off. I told the one steward that I would be interested when it got to 50% off! They also had one of those sales that they have on repo cruises where they sell other stock from the prior region, in this case, South America.

 

I went back to the puzzle for the afternoon; there were several people working on it. I worked on a section away from the actual puzzle and when the section was mostly complete, would pop it in place. There were two people who looked for pieces for which people were looking. And there were about three or four people working inside the actual puzzle. After dinner, there were nine people working on this one puzzle at the same time!! The puzzle was started and completed within the same day! It was quite a team effort.

 

Dinner was great, as usual. They had almond chicken tenders as an appie. They were very good. One of us had that as an entree instead. DM and I had Beef Roulade as our entree. It was good but not as good as we make at home. This one didn't have the usual pickle in it; it had carrot instead. One person had the vegetarian jambalaya, one had the angry rockfish and I can't remember what the last person had, sorry about that.

 

We chose to not attend the show. The entertainer was Robbie Howard. I heard that he performs songs from Vegas such along the lines of the Rat Pack. DM read her book; I was at the puzzle table.

 

Like I said, it was a boring day. I had a good time but to tell it here, it seems boring. Eat, GMZ, puzzle, eat again, trivia, puzzle, eat yet again, puzzle, sleep. I will probably repeat the same thing tomorrow! Think of how short my report will be!!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

 

Sailing towards Victoria

 

Today was a very quiet day for us. This will be a very boring report; my apologies in advance..................

 

 

 

.....Like I said, it was a boring day. I had a good time but to tell it here, it seems boring. Eat, GMZ, puzzle, eat again, trivia, puzzle, eat yet again, puzzle, sleep. I will probably repeat the same thing tomorrow! Think of how short my report will be!!

 

No, not boring. What's coming across in your extremely well-written posts is that you are completely happy. So I would say it has been a successful cruise:) Thanks for your journal; I've been following you daily.

Edited May 12, 2016 by middle-aged mom

[SilvertoGold]

Hilarious post!

This is such a great cruise: so glad you got Bruce as CD. He makes quite a difference!

[Alberta Quilter]

Thursday, May 12, 2016

 

Sailing towards Victoria

 

Good Morning, Zaandam this morning featured the singers and dancers of the Zaandam. One dancer is from the US, one from the UK and the rest are from Eastern European countries and Russia. One singer is from the UK, one from Canada (Quebec), and two from Australia. For most of them, this is their first contract on a ship. It was also Alexa's birthday today so they sang Happy Birthday to her.

 

We twisted the librarian's arm a wee bit to get to break up the puzzle we finished yesterday early (she let us since we were the ones who had worked on it), and started a new one. If I didn't mention it yesterday, the puzzle that we did in the one day was of handbags. Today's was shoes! It actually was the more challenging of the two puzzles. A couple of us left the puzzle to attend the cooking demo which featured the lobster salad and creme brûlée from Le Cirque. Yes, tonight was Le Cirque night at the PG, the second one on this cruise.

 

After lunch, we went to trivia where we lost again. It was a respectable loss this time, though. We didn't get trounced like we did the other day.

 

I spent some more time at the puzzle table in the afternoon until it was time to get changed for tea and dinner. We had been invited to tea in a Neptune Suite by one of our CC friends who lives in the same town that we do. We had met for lunch one day a few months ago when we discovered that we both worked in the same industry. Tea was lovely and it was DM's first time in a Neptune Suite so that was interesting for her to see. I didn't have any sweets with the tea simply because we were going to Le Cirque and I didn't want to spoil my dinner.

 

We were joined at Le Cirque by another CC friend with whom we had cruised last year on the Maasdam Noro cruise! It was our first time experiencing the new menu as it was being changed the week following our last HAL cruise last May. While I truly enjoy the Chateaubriand (and they specially made bearnaise sauce for me), I'm not sure we'll bother again. The regular PG menu just suits us better.

 

We rolled out of Le Cirque stuffed to the gills after 8 pm. We both changed into something more comfortable (stretchy!) and went to the library. I worked on the puzzle again and DM read. We left there at 9:45 so that we could get to the late show to see Island Magic Steel Drum band again. This show was a little different from the first one, they played tunes from ABBA to Elvis, and My Way to Amazing Grace. We toddled off to bed after the last encore.

 

We lost our last hour tonight so we should be on BC time tomorrow. Thank heavens the time changes are over. It's just too bad that the cruise is almost over.

[Alberta Quilter]

No, not boring. What's coming across in your extremely well-written posts is that you are completely happy. So I would say it has been a successful cruise:) Thanks for your journal; I've been following you daily.

 

Oh, thank you for that reassurance. We are quite happy.

 

To be honest, the weather hasn't been that great, but I haven't really paid attention to the weather. I can count the times on one hand that I've been outside since muster drill (other than port days, of course). We have been through squalls, fog, cloudy skies but other than the occasional glance out the window and hearing the foghorn occasionally, I haven't been at all concerned with the weather.

 

As for ship issues, there have been some. Someone's cabin was hot for the first 10 days (never went below 23C) and then they had no hot water for several days. They finally got moved to another cabin after one of the medical evacuations. There have been plumbing issues. Thankfully, we were not affected at all; the most we got was a 5 minute delayed flush.

 

It truly has been a great cruise for us.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving your reports.

Boring days can be great -- extra naps for us.