richwmn Goes around the world in a daze

[richwmn]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[aliaschief]

Rich, First of all thanks for taking us along on your Grand Adventure. Is it everything you thought it would be? Trying to get a feel for our next year first 155 day World Cruise on another cruise line?

[erewhon]

@richwmn,  Rich,  thanks for all your reports and photos.  Did you buy an icecream from the shop just out side the port gate?   Mount Maunganui is an easy town to walk around, did you walk around the Mount?   During one visit DH walked to the top of the Mount.

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you Rich, for your trip reports!

 

We stopped last year in Tauranga and we had to go to Hobbiton and loved it!

[richwmn]

18 hours ago, erewhon said:

@richwmn,  Rich,  thanks for all your reports and photos.  Did you buy an icecream from the shop just out side the port gate?   Mount Maunganui is an easy town to walk around, did you walk around the Mount?   During one visit DH walked to the top of the Mount.

I did walk around the area a bit. I saw the Ice Cream Shop but it was early. It was a very comfortable day for walking today. Hope y'all are well.

 

[richwmn]

February 04 – Gisborne, New Zealand

 

 

After a nice walk in Tauranga yesterday the evening on the ship was very nice. We had trivia at 4:00pm and 8:00pm. The session at 8:00pm was scheduled to be Rolling Stones music but a problem with the file caused a change to CCR music. My group of 4 won with a total of 14 out of 17 points. We were promised that the Rolling Stones file would be fixed and used on a later date.

 

The show on the Main Stage last night was an Australian singer named Debora Krizak. The show consisted of songs by women singers, including Adele, Helen Reddy, Dolly Parton, and maybe one more. With a very good voice and range, she performed a good selection of songs and the talk between songs was entertaining. One of the best shows we have had since the World Cruise began.

 

Gisborne is a short day and a tender port. Because of that I chose to stay aboard Zuiderdam today. The weather is very good and I’m sure that those who went ashore had a good time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[erewhon]

1 hour ago, richwmn said:

I did walk around the area a bit. I saw the Ice Cream Shop but it was early. It was a very comfortable day for walking today. Hope y'all are well.

 

 

Thanks for your reply.

We are well.

Sad that the Zuiderdam is not visiting any South Island  ports. 

 

 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

@erewhonTell me more about the ice cream shop please. We'll be there in about 3 weeks. Can't wait!!

Thanks.

[richwmn]

February 05 – Wellington, New Zealand

 

 

Yesterday evening was full of activity. The normal trivia sessions at 4:00pm and 6:30pm went well. The later session was all about sports, not my strong suit but we did come close to winning. One more answer to tie, two more would have won. Well, there is always tonight.

 

After trivia I sat and talked for a few minutes and when I got to the Main Stage I heard some familiar songs so I looked in. The show for last night was Cantare and they put on a very good show. Many familiar songs with a little choreography. The seating was packed on both floors so I left, determined to come back early for the late show.

 

Since I missed the first show I had a few minutes until the 8:30pm Cocktail Chat with Debora Krizak. She is the singer that put on a very good show Friday evening. She told us a little more about herself and her career in music and comedy. It was interesting to find out she was a last minute addition. She told us she got a call from her agent, agreed to the terms, and had 24 hours to get to the ship. She is from Sydney and had to make it to Auckland. It was a nice chat and I’m pleased she made it to the ship.

 

This morning we arrived in Wellington on schedule. Cruise ship docking in Wellington is currently at an industrial port, and we had to take a shuttle to the downtown area. Once we started leaving the port area I started recognizing things from my visit in 2019. Along with a friend from trivia, I went to the tourist information area and we bought tickets to a two hour excursion thru the city. It was very similar to the one I took in 2019. The two hours went quickly and we took the return shuttle to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[erewhon]

20 hours ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

@erewhonTell me more about the ice cream shop please. We'll be there in about 3 weeks. Can't wait!!

Thanks.

 

@SusieKIslandGirl when you leave the ship, walk through the port gates,  the shop is on the left side (0cean side)  Do try the Hokey Pokey  flavour icecream.

 

 

[richwmn]

On 2/3/2023 at 2:23 PM, aliaschief said:

Rich, First of all thanks for taking us along on your Grand Adventure. Is it everything you thought it would be? Trying to get a feel for our next year first 155 day World Cruise on another cruise line?

The other day Bruce ( @aliaschief  ) asked me - Is it everything you thought it would be?

 

This is something that I have been thinking about pretty much since the cruise began. To answer that, I think it must be broken down into different expectations.

 

The first expectation is that I will be aboard a Holland America Ship aka BHB for 128 days. Today is day 33 of the cruise, so that expectation is being met day by day.

 

The next is condition of the ship. Zuiderdam appears to be clean and well kept up. I think that I might have had an expectation that she would be kept up better than the other ships. This was partially based on the recognition that while Amsterdam was the ship for the World Cruise and while Prinsendam was part of the fleet, the crew recognized the special position those ships had in the fleet. Zuiderdam was only chosen as the ship for the World Cruise a short time ago, and is scheduled for the WC again next year. Past that is not yet known.

 

The next consideration is the Guest Facing Staff. Everyone has always talked about the staff on the World Cruise being ‘the best of the best’, and I’m sure that was the case in the past and was the intent this year. Like all businesses, HAL lost a lot of good employees during the shut down. While starting back up HAL has had to hire a lot of new crew that just doesn’t have the same experience. While I think that the current crew is up to overall standards, maybe not quite what I have read was the previous level. I must say that most of the restaurant, bar, and cabin staff is calling a lot more guests by name, so that is a nice thing.

 

Now to the ports. I have been to several of the ports before. My impression from previous people who have commented on the World Cruise was that the ports considered the WC as something special as well with many ports providing entertainment during the port call or at sail away. So far, only the Kingdom of Tonga has done so. Our stops at places I visited in 2019 were treated just the same now as then.

 

Entertainment is the next thing to consider. Here I have to admit that being on the holiday cruise for 12 days prior to the WC comes into consideration here. For the first week or so of the WC we had the same entertainers as the holiday cruise. I went to one comic during the first week of the holiday cruise and thought he was pretty good. After turnaround in Fort Lauderdale he was again the entertainer and I went and found he was doing the same act. Then the first week of the WC, the same jokes again. I would have hoped he had more material.

 

Further into the cruise we changed entertainers, but they were basically the same as we would have had on a regular cruise. When I did the Trans Pacific from Vancouver to Auckland in 2019 we changed entertainers four or five times, and the last group were from Australia. On the WC we have had several changes, but the only Australian entertainer was picked up in New Zealand and told us in a chat that she was a last minute addition. Her show was probably the best we have had. The next night we had Cantaré, a group HAL put together over a decade ago and is actually very good.

 

From my standpoint the enrichment lectures have been a mixed bag. One of the presenters was a retired Navy Commander talking about ships and Nautical topics. He was a pretty good speaker and knew his subjects very well. But it is evident that he has presented the same lectures many times. He bills himself as ‘the Ship Guy’ and wears shirts saying that.

 

The other presentations were on geology, physics, and languages. While interesting subjects, maybe the lectures were more suited to graduate level college courses than entertaining the guests on a cruise ship.

 

The last person I want to talk about is the Master of the Ship, Captain Frisco Kramer gezegd Freher. One of the things I have noticed over the past many years is that the staff officers have been largely absent from the guest areas. Captain Freher has been out and about regularly and has been very easy to chat with. Along with his wife, he is seen regularly in the Lido and on the Music Walk. His announcements have been a good mix of information about the voyage, and general maritime knowledge.

 

To sum it up, so far the World Cruise has been mostly just a longer version of a regular cruise. I feel sure that part of the problem is the overall state of the world. Maybe that will change over the rest of the cruise. Once HAL, and the other cruise lines for that matter, get another full year of operations under their belt next year will be more special, as the ones prior to 2020 were.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by richwmn

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Richwmn, I like your well thought out thorough analysis as a 1st time World Cruiser. Thank you for posting it, especially the last paragraph.

[cunnorl]

Rich 

    Thanks for the very detailed perspective of a first time World Cruiser. 
      Much appreciated. 

[richwmn]

Yesterday's menus (a little late)

 

 

 

 

 

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you very much Rich for taking the time to share your experiences with us!

[Cruisercl]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for all of your posts and info on the daily stuff on the ship and the ports.

I appreciate it.

Question, does it make a difference on your choices in the port if you have been there before?

How many of the ports have you been to before?

IMO, the challenge would be being a a ship for so long but IMO I think I would love!

You seem good, stay safe and take care in your travels. 😎

Caron

 

[richwmn]

1 hour ago, Cruisercl said:

Hi Rich,

Thanks for all of your posts and info on the daily stuff on the ship and the ports.

I appreciate it.

Question, does it make a difference on your choices in the port if you have been there before?

How many of the ports have you been to before?

IMO, the challenge would be being a a ship for so long but IMO I think I would love!

You seem good, stay safe and take care in your travels. 😎

Caron

 

Thanks for the questions. I’m going to answer them in a different order.

 

As far as being on the ship that long, I am not having a problem with that. I have already passed my previous long cruise of 40 days by almost a week. When I boarded the ship it was with the mind set that I would be in the same cabin for 140 days. That proved to change as I got an upgrade when the World Cruise started, but none the less I knew I would be on board for a long time. I have really enjoyed the on board experience.

 

You asked how many of the ports I have been to before. I think between cruises and a wonderful two weeks in Europe several years ago I have been to about 1/3 of the ports of the World Cruise. For the two Caribbean ports I stayed on board since I have been to each several times. Past that I think I have gone ashore on all but 1 stop. Sometimes just to walk around, sometimes to try and see things. In Wellington I took pretty much the same excursion I took 4 years ago. It was still enjoyable. Each port has the opportunity to see things that were missed in previous ports.

 

I have enjoyed this cruise thus far, and it has the possibility of it getting better.

 

[richwmn]

February 06 – at sea destination Sydney

 

 

As opposed to the previous two nights, last night was a little bit light on the entertainment. Billboard, Rolling Stone, and the Ocean Bar had their musical sets, 3 sets of 45 minutes each. The Main Stage, now called the World Stage, showed a movie “Whaledreamers”.

 

Trivia sessions at 4:00pm and 6:30pm were both challenging and fun. We didn’t win but we have a good group and had fun with it.

 

Today I settled back into the Sea Day Routine. Actually, a little different since I failed to read the card last night and didn’t reset my clock. As a result I was awake at 5:00am and got some things done before breakfast. I was going to walk a bit, but the Promenade Deck was closed off due to rough seas.

 

Dinner tonight will be with friends in the Pinnacle Grill. I hope everyone has had a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[XBGuy]

15 hours ago, richwmn said:

 

 

 

 

Vegemite?

[richwmn]

2 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Vegemite?

Don't know, menu hasn't been provided yet.

 

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

 

Vegemite?

Actually they keep a jar in Lido near the condiments. 😉

[richwmn]

February 08 – At sea toward Sydney

 

Sea day yesterday, nothing special during the day. Trivia sessions were fun, I have a good group with me. Last night the Zuiderdam Singers & Dancers did a show entitled ‘Your Song’. This was a tribute to Sir Elton John. The singing and selection of songs were very good. The dancing was energetic. It was a very good show. It’s nice to have a group of singers and dancers aboard.

 

Today has been a very good day at sea. The weather has been beautiful and temperate. Everyone seems to be having a good time. So far everything has been going well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

February 09 – Sydney, NSW Australia

 

 

 

It’s raining in Sydney!

 

Yesterday was a sea day. As usual relaxing, trivia, food, and entertainment. The trivia session at 4:00pm was about travel. It was interesting and we did ok. We had a full plate of activities.

 

Since we didn’t have a 6:30pm trivia session I attempted to go to the 7:00pm show on the World Stage. Well, that didn’t go well because by 6:45pm the house was basically full. I retreated to my cabin and did get to the 9:30pm show. This was the second show by Cantare and was called ‘Timeless’. The show consisted of songs that stood the test of time. As before the show was very good and very energetic.

 

This morning we arrived on time at White Bay Cruise Terminal in Sydney. This is a pretty nice terminal set up and has shuttle buses to take you on a short (about 20 minutes) ride to an area with shops and restaurants. It was an easy place to walk around and while I was there the weather was nice.

 

However, before I could get on the shuttle there was a little matter of Australian Immigration. We were given information a couple of days ago about the process for going thru immigration, and a group and time to present ourselves. The process started on time, or maybe a little bit early. After the first two groups Ian announced we were a bit ahead of schedule. That process bogged down after the first four groups were called and the fifth group was about 20 minutes late. After we were allowed to leave the ship, there was a long line in the terminal to visit immigration. The line did move quickly and we were finally able to go to the shuttle.

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

February 10 – Sydney, NSW Australia – Day 2

 

 

Yesterday we had a full day of trivia with sessions at 1:00pm, 4:00pm, 6:30pm, and 8:00pm. Both the early sessions were general knowledge, while the 6:30pm session focused on questions about movies and the last session covered Motown. Out of 15 song snips played, I think we had 14 song titles and 11 artists. We missed tying for first place by 1 answer.

 

Meals yesterday were good and we always have great service.

 

This morning I met with a friend and we took the 9:00am shuttle to Darling Bay. Once there we got on the Big Bus, a Hop On Hop Off Service. I was able to purchase the tickets using their website so boarding the bus wasn’t a problem. For about a half hour we had a very nice ride and saw a bunch of Sydney. At 10:00am we had to change buses in order to complete the loop back to Darling Bay. Once we swapped we continued the loop and were able to see a good portion of Sydney. The total loop lasted about two and a half hours. The weather was beautiful and so was the city. The only real problem was the number of urban canyons we went thru. After the tour we got back to Darling Bay and had lunch at a place called Cockle Bay Yacht Club. I had a very good cheeseburger and fries along with an Australian wine. After lunch, a shuttle was available back to Zuiderdam and we were on it. All in all, a great day in Sydney!