Westerdam July 17-25. Semi-live?

[rubytue]

14 minutes ago, jpnr said:

Is the explorations café the only place we can get Lattés?

Yes. 

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, rubytue said:

I noticed we have a $19/pp refund for port fees and taxes. We made all the ports. Do you have any idea what this might be? 

I believe they 'estimate' the fees and taxes at booking time/final payment and if the actual fees charged by the port are less, then they refund.

 

p.s. enjoying your posts 

Edited July 23, 2022 by VMax1700

[Kristal Blade]

We will be on Zuiderdam in about 4 weeks. Your report is getting us right in the mood! Thanks for taking the time to do this and for including pics.

 

One little question. Is there a duty free shop on board? We are travelling with our daughter and her family and it would be nice to pick up a couple of bottles of spirits to enjoy when we get back to Vancouver.

[rubytue]

7 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

Is there a duty free shop on board?

Yes. My husband perused it last night and was not terrible impressed with the prices. But that’s compared to US (Maryland) prices. Also, they do not have drambuie. This is our usual duty free purchase in the carribean. 

[rubytue]

Internet seems to be a bit better. So I will try to get a pic of chocolate extravaganza uploaded. For those not aware, it’s no longer the massive exhibition on the lido, but was passed small plates. And they were tasty. 
 

I am 100% ok with this change. The lido thing seemed so excessive and wasteful. And honestly, it was all looks, but I felt lacking favor other than sweet. 

[Kristal Blade]

Thanks for the super fast response.

Drambuie is a big fave for my husband, he loves a Rusty Nail.

Our most recent cruise was on QM2 and we thought prices in their duty free shop weren’t very competitive compared to our U.K. supermarkets.

Thanks again

[rubytue]

Didn’t finish my thoughts. The chocolate extravaganza thing was the most crowded event we have done. It is on deck 2, the staff walks around. We got stuck in shoulder to shoulder mobs. Way too peoply for me even in before times. As we were leaving, we overheard someone complaining about “all the people walking around and grabbing chocolate before the people waiting patiently”. Ok, whatever. We weren’t trying to get chocolate before you. We were trying to leave. 🙄 Life is much better when you don’t assume the worst about everyone else. We are all in this world together and have our own crap to deal with. 
 

this comment also going out to the lady who thought we stole the chairs her teenage daughters vacated and glared at us. We saw empty chairs and took them. 🤷‍♀️

[Cruise Suzy]

2 hours ago, rubytue said:

I noticed we have a $19/pp refund for port fees and taxes. We made all the ports. Do you have any idea what this might be? 

It may be that we are docked in Victoria for only 4 hours instead of 6 and for 30 minutes less in Ketchikan?????

 

Wish I had checked our account balance before going to the Shops to spend OBC on souvenirs for DGDs. Now I have to go back for another small shopping spree. Darn, life is hard!

 

Yep, today is the saddest of cruise days. Packing. We don't fly until Monday - 7AM flight.

 

 

 

[31 cents]

22 hours ago, rubytue said:

For the creamed questions. I took a picture of the coffee station at the lido this morning. No flavored creamers. 2% and cream are in the canisters to the left. 

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to check this out for me.  Keep enjoying your cruise.

[rubytue]

1 hour ago, Kristal Blade said:

Thanks for the super fast response.

Drambuie is a big fave for my husband, he loves a Rusty Nail.

Same! We usually buy two of the big bottle of Drambuie in the Caribbean. They are the same price as a tiny bottle back home. In fact, we joke that when we are out of drambuie, it’s time to book a cruise.
 

I did just question my husband about the prices. He said a liter of Hendricks is what he pays for a fifth at home. “So, 25% bonus, but it’s not worth the hassle is packing it to fly”

[rubytue]

A few weeks ago I asked about if the streaming block on WiFi was blocking entire apps or something else. I can report that the Peloton app is not (yet) blocked. I was able to do a yoga workout from my phone. So I was able to keep my streak going. Woo! I’ve been going pretty hard this trip, plus from an aft cabin, you get plenty of walking in, so I hadn’t been focused on exercise. But with sea day laziness and getting nagged that if I didn’t do something today, the streak would be gone. I gave it a shot! 20 min grunge yoga done ! (Did I mentioned I’m gen X, yoga to Pearl Jam and nirvana? Yes please). 

[Kristal Blade]

1 hour ago, rubytue said:

Same! We usually buy two of the big bottle of Drambuie in the Caribbean. They are the same price as a tiny bottle back home. In fact, we joke that when we are out of drambuie, it’s time to book a cruise.
 

I did just question my husband about the prices. He said a liter of Hendricks is what he pays for a fifth at home. “So, 25% bonus, but it’s not worth the hassle is packing it to fly”

Well, I don’t think ours would get to the packing stage! Our daughter lives in Vancouver so we would buy it to leave it there. 
Im not sure how big a fifth is? It sounds small!

[rubytue]

37 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

Im not sure how big a fifth is? It sounds small!

Honestly, me neither. It’s an American booze size. Maybe a 5th of a gallon? Google says it’s 750 ml. So, I guess that’s why he said a liter was 25% more. 😂 I don’t do liquor. 

[VMax1700]

4 hours ago, rubytue said:

For those not aware, it’s no longer the massive exhibition on the lido, but was passed small plates. And they were tasty. 

That is the way it was for the last couple of years pre-covid, well certainly on Koningsdam that's the way it was done.

[rubytue]

7 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

That is the way it was for the last couple of years pre-covid, well certainly on Koningsdam that's the way it was done.

Great! It’s been awhile for me. I think this is a great change!

 

In other news, thumbs up to the Origins talk. Especially if you are a HAL lover. They get into immigration at Ellis island, WWII, and so one. I really enjoyed it. 

[rubytue]

Anyone want to see Dive In burgers and fries? We did this for lunch several times. Was better than most of what lido had for lunch (that we found) .

 

tonight is salmon bake in the lido. Yum (hopefully)! We are avoiding packing. Maybe while everyone is ashore?

[rubytue]

Salmon Bake night at the lido. It’s a nice, warmish, sunny afternoon. There are kids in the sea view pool. I didn’t think that was allowed, but they are enjoying themselves. 
 

We spent a few hours up on deck 10 aft whale watching. Saw a couple blows from what I assume was a humpback. And then we saw a couple orcas while a carnival ship was passing. One of the orcas was pissed off at the passing ship and treated us to what felt like 10 minutes of tail slapping. Visible through binoculars. He was much closer to the carnival ship. They probably could have seen it with naked eyes. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by rubytue

[tundra1]

Thanks for the photo of the chocolate party!  I like something sweet, but prefer not to overindulge!  LOL!  This looks like a good solution.  Thanks for all you hard work with this review!

[rubytue]

15 minutes ago, tundra1 said:

Thanks for all you hard work with this review!

Aww thank you. It’s really quite funny in that this is, to me, entertainment. My typical evening at home is watching TV, with the iPad on my lap toggling between FB, Twitter, and 3 or 4 message boards. Posting while doing other things is so “normal” for me. Online addict since 1992. 😂

[rubytue]

This seems surprising to me, but we docked early and cleared customs by 7:45 tonight. My memories and I feel reports are similar, is that Victoria is usually late docking and later customs. 

[Cruise Suzy]

@rubytue Thought of you tonight. DH and I had the David Burke Roasted Spice-Crusted Prime Rib with Wild Mushrooms (Culinary Council MDR menu). The horseradish-mustard mousse condiment was VERY potent. Not just my opinion - DH likes horseradish and he said it was the second most potent version he'd ever had.

 

Not going into Victoria, nearly done packing. Spent time on balcony this afternoon, just chilling out. Didn't see any orcas, but that's ok.

 

Enjoyed the cruise, even if Afternoon Tea was MIA.

[rubytue]

1 hour ago, Cruise Suzy said:

Not going into Victoria, nearly done packing.

This is the first time in 12 cruises where we have not gotten off the ship. I figured with such a short and late stop, it would be 50/50, but it’s empty! I’m actually out an about and enjoying the public spaces for the first time this week 😁

[syesmar]

Thank you @rubytue for sharing your experiences with us! Sounds like a fabulous cruise!

[Dunmore2]

16 hours ago, rubytue said:

A few weeks ago I asked about if the streaming block on WiFi was blocking entire apps or something else. I can report that the Peloton app is not (yet) blocked. I was able to do a yoga workout from my phone. So I was able to keep my streak going. Woo! I’ve been going pretty hard this trip, plus from an aft cabin, you get plenty of walking in, so I hadn’t been focused on exercise. But with sea day laziness and getting nagged that if I didn’t do something today, the streak would be gone. I gave it a shot! 20 min grunge yoga done ! (Did I mentioned I’m gen X, yoga to Pearl Jam and nirvana? Yes please). 

Thanks for mentioning this. I do my yoga via zoom , and was hoping I’d be able to continue my practice onboard. I also yoga to Nirvana, but sometimes it’s Jethro Tull, Neil Young, or Santana.

Have a great trip home.

[rubytue]

2 hours ago, Dunmore2 said:

I do my yoga via zoom , and was hoping I’d be able to continue my practice onboard.

Honestly, I feel like zoom might be more likely to be IP blocked. I think maybe peloton got through bc it’s a bit of a niche app. But I hope I’m wrong!