richwmn Goes around the world in a daze

[richwmn]

April 13 – at sea destination Portland (Weymouth) England

 

Today is day 100 of the 2023 Grand World Cruise, and we have 28 days left before we return to Fort Lauderdale. When I set foot in Lisbon on the 10^th I actually completed going around the world because several years ago I stayed in Lisbon for three days, followed by a flight to Montreal and a cruise from there to Fort Lauderdale.

 

In October I sailed on Nieuw Statendam for 14 days and with the spending bonus I made Five Star. On April 5^th I completed 500 actual sailing days on HAL. Prior to the World Cruise I had 420 actual days on board ships, with 21 of those days with a verandah and the rest in outside cabins, and 14 days with a cabin mate. I have sailed at least seven days on every current HAL ship.

 

I boarded Zuiderdam on December 22^nd for the Christmas and New Year cruises prior to the World Cruise. When I return to Fort Lauderdale on May 12^th I will have been on the ship for 140 days. For the first twelve days I was in cabin 4058, an outside obstructed view cabin. During that time Zuiderdam was very crowded, with around 300 guests 18 years old or under. Despite the crowd, the ship functioned well. The entertainment was good, but maybe not great. One problem that I had was that the comic did pretty much the same routine twice, once on the Christmas portion and once on the New Year portion. I guess he didn’t realize the number of guests that would be doing both. Christmas and New Year were handled very well by the staff and were fun.

 

On January 3^rd the World Cruise officially started. My plan from the start was to stay aboard the ship and not deal with the cruise terminal. As is normal in Fort Lauderdale those staying aboard were gathered up and taken in a group thru the terminal then returned to the ship prior to any new guests boarding. Just after I returned to my cabin I got a call informing me that I should have moved to my new cabin for the World. I completed that with few problems so I started the World Cruise in a nice verandah cabin, 5048.

 

So now I have been on the World Cruise for 100 days in a verandah cabin. I have been asked if having a verandah for this long would ‘spoil’ me and get me to purchase one in the future. In truth, the answer to that is no. As a solo I have plenty of space in a standard outside cabin and I haven’t really used the verandah enough for me to justify the additional cost. If I were sharing the cabin the answer might be different depending on who I was sharing the cabin with.

 

I was asked “After sailing for this amount of time, how likely are you to recommend taking this cruise to others?” This is not an easy question to answer. If you have the time and resources to take the cruise the answer might be yes. To fully answer this question, I would need to ask several of you. What is the longest cruise you have taken so far? If the answer is under three weeks I would recommend that you take a 20 – 40 day cruise prior to booking a World Cruise. I had done several in that range and knew that I would be comfortable. Can you entertain yourself, ie reading, computer, tv etc. On a World Cruise there are several long stretches of sea days. While I enjoy most of the trivia sessions, not everyone does. I have also been involved in several of the ‘sporting’ activities such as corn hole, putting challenge, ring toss, and others. But again, these are not everyones ‘cup of tea’. Do you like sitting for around 45 minutes listening to someone give a talk about various subjects? If so, we have had a lot of this with some speakers being very good, and others being ok, you might disagree with my assessment of their abilities.

 

The World Stage entertainment has been uneven. Some have been very good, and some have been ok. Like I said about the speakers your assessment may be different than mine. One thing that has been nice is that several entertainers have boarded the ship for just a few days and then were swapped out for another. Many of the entertainers were local to the areas we were visiting and several places we had a show by a group that boarded just long enough for the show.

 

For the most part, I eat my meals in the Lido. My habit both at home and on the ships is to eat during ‘off’ hours, times when most people are not eating. As a result I have not had problems with very long lines for the most part. Now and then due to ships schedule or excursions there is more of a crowd but not often. The times I have taken meals in the MDR have been very nice. I have been invited to join two couples that have had the same table and servers for the last couple of months and have room for two others to join them, and this has been allowed. The menus have been varied and I don’t go away from either location hungry.

 

To sum it up, I have really enjoyed the last few months on Zuiderdam. I am scheduled for the Grand Australia next year, with before and after cruises for a total of around 120 days. I have been happy and have met many people who I expect to stay in touch with. Hopefully I will continue to be able to take these long cruises.

 

[richwmn]

Activities for today

 

 

 

[richwmn]

April 14 – at sea / Portland (Weymouth) England

 

 

 

 

Today we were supposed to be in France, but the weather prohibited it. Now we are approaching England where we have to wait for a freighter to vacate a dock so we can tie up. That could be any time from 1:00pm to tomorrow morning. Then we will have to do a Face-to-Face meeting with our passports to British Immigration. We also had an announcement a little bit ago that due to the strikes in France, we would also be missing Le Harve and substituting Dover, England instead. Oh, the joys of the World Cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

1pm position 

 

[richwmn]

Position at 5:00pm. We will stay here overnight.  Our berth won't be available until 5:00am.

[bennybear]

Thanks Rich for your insights.   We’ve done several over three week cruises,  but may try something in between.   Also really appreciate the little cards with the travel quotes.  
 

Thanks for all the  lovely photos! 

[StLouisCruisers]

Rich, were people able to tender to Portland or Weymouth today?  

[richwmn]

25 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Rich, were people able to tender to Portland or Weymouth today?  

No, we were told that as soon as another ship cleared the dock it was ours. However, the weather didn't co-operate and it took longer to unload. They will clear the dock at 05:00am, then the pilot will transfer to Zuiderdam and we will get to dock. We have to do a Face-to-Face with British Immigration before we can go ashore.

 

[StLouisCruisers]

4 minutes ago, richwmn said:

No, we were told that as soon as another ship cleared the dock it was ours. However, the weather didn't co-operate and it took longer to unload. They will clear the dock at 05:00am, then the pilot will transfer to Zuiderdam and we will get to dock. We have to do a Face-to-Face with British Immigration before we can go ashore.

 

 

Then if you get a chance to get to shore tomorrow I recommend visiting Weymouth and seeing the beach area and also the harbor area with the drawbridge. The harbor was used in filming Dunkirk.

 

Described here:

The historic Weymouth Harbour in the seaside town of Weymouth in Dorset, southern England, was used for filming multiple scenes, specifically in the Custom House Quay. The Weymouth Harbourmaster’s office stood in for the Weymouth Herald newspaper office in the film. Shots featuring large-scale radio-controlled aircrafts crashing into the English Channel were also seemingly lensed nearby.

 

We really enjoyed walking that town.  The Prinsendam provided a free shuttle from the dock in Portland to the downtown Weymouth area for us.  

[richwmn]

April 15 – Portland, England

 

 

 

 

 

After a nice evening of movies off Portland, we pulled into the dock this morning on time. We are now going thru the procedure with immigration and should be able to leave the ship shortly. I’m meeting friends at 9:00am for a run into Weymouth.

 

 

 

Menus later

 

 

[richwmn]

April 15 – Portland & Weymouth, England

 

Today we entered England and had to do an immigration check. Again it went quickly and everyone had a sticker placed on their card. I remember a long time ago when no one could leave the ship until everyone had cleared. The stickers make things much nicer and I am very glad many countries are allowing the practice.

 

After the immigration check we went out and got on the shuttle. It was a bit chilly but the sun was out and it wasn’t overcast. The first stop on the shuttle was at a castle in Portland, then on to Weymouth. We had a very nice walk around the old portion of the city and the waterfront. We went into several stores and ended up getting a beer at one of the pubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by richwmn

[zelker]

1 hour ago, richwmn said:

April 15 – Portland & Weymouth, England

 

Today we entered England and had to do an immigration check. Again it went quickly and everyone had a sticker placed on their card. I remember a long time ago when no one could leave the ship until everyone had cleared. The stickers make things much nicer and I am very glad many countries are allowing the practice.

 

After the immigration check we went out and got on the shuttle. It was a bit chilly but the sun was out and it wasn’t overcast. The first stop on the shuttle was at a castle in Portland, then on to Weymouth. We had a very nice walk around the old portion of the city and the waterfront. We went into several stores and ended up getting a beer at one of the pubs.

 

 

Hey, Rich - we'll be there on Zuiderdam on May 30th.  Was the shuttle free and how often did run?  Thx.  Barb

[richwmn]

1 minute ago, zelker said:

 

Hey, Rich - we'll be there on Zuiderdam on May 30th.  Was the shuttle free and how often did run?  Thx.  Barb

Shuttle was free, stopped at both the Castle in Portland, and a stop in Weymouth. They were supposed to run every 30 minutes but it seemed to be a little more frequent.

 

[StLouisCruisers]

Rich, thanks for the photos!  They brought me right back there to 2018 when we walked across that bridge, and down that main street to the beach.  We were there in mid September.  Was it too cold for anyone to be out on the beach today?  There were some hanging out on the beach in September though it wasn't hot that day.

[oakridger]

Rich, I'm curious about those little covered car/scooter vehicles in the second picture above.  Are they rentals for tourists or do locals have them?  I've never seen something quite like that!  I'd rent one to get around on in a small town in the UK!

 

Thanks,

~Nancy

[oakridger]

 

The miracle of Google Image Search found the answer!  They are enclosures for mobility scooters!  What a great idea.  I don't need a scooter, but these look slick!

 

~Nancy

[richwmn]

April 16 – Dover, England

 

Dover was not a stop on our original itinerary. It was added a few days ago due to a labor strike in France. It was an easy overnight trip from Portland and we arrived here without any problems. Right now it is a little chilly outside and is overcast.

 

We have a shuttle again today from the ship into Dover. For the first time there is a charge for the shuttle. It is not much, $10 for a day pass payable by cash or tap card. Like yesterday, there will be two stops. One of the stops will be in the city proper where we can walk around and see the city.

 

Sitting on my verandah I can see the famous White Cliffs of Dover and the area is very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

15 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Was it too cold for anyone to be out on the beach today?  There were some hanging out on the beach in September though it wasn't hot that day.

There were a few people on the beach, but not many. It was a bit chilly for most people to be on the beach.

 

[richwmn]

3 hours ago, oakridger said:

Rich, I'm curious about those little covered car/scooter vehicles in the second picture above.  Are they rentals for tourists or do locals have them?  I've never seen something quite like that!  I'd rent one to get around on in a small town in the UK!

 

Thanks,

~Nancy

 

3 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

The miracle of Google Image Search found the answer!  They are enclosures for mobility scooters!  What a great idea.  I don't need a scooter, but these look slick!

 

~Nancy

We looked at those when we walked around but not to closely. While some might have been mobility scooters we had the impression that they were for more general use. Maybe there will be some out today and I can look a bit closer.

[richwmn]

Today's activities and menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by richwmn

[LouChamp]

Aloha. As always love your reports. Did you have the Cullen Skink soup? I love it and curious as to your opinion.

[Oceansaway17]

8 hours ago, richwmn said:

There were a few people on the beach, but not many. It was a bit chilly for most people to be on the beach.

 

Boy you lucked out having a balcony on side of ship with view of cliffs and a nice surprise too.

are you dad trip coming to end or glad to go home?

[BetsyS.]

Rich - Thanks for your great reporting and beautiful pictures! I have enjoyed 

following you on your travels. 😊

[richwmn]

April 17 – Zeebrugge, Belgium

 

 

 

 

This morning we are back on schedule in Zeebrugge. Sky Princess arrived shortly after we did and is berthed behind us. It looks like we are going to have another nice day, a little cool but sunny out.

 

Today is a bit of a change over day. Two of the servers in the Lido for breakfast have their last day today. They are going home at the end of their contract tomorrow. They have both been excellent, every morning greeting us and having our drinks ready.

 

Today we are in another industrial port, and this one is pretty big. We will have two shuttles to chose from, one that simply goes to the port gate and another that goes into town. We will go into town and walk around a bit to see what is here. Most of the European towns I have been to are extremely walkable and I expect this to be the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sky Princess

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, richwmn said:

April 17 – Zeebrugge, Belgium

 

 

 

 

This morning we are back on schedule in Zeebrugge. Sky Princess arrived shortly after we did and is berthed behind us. It looks like we are going to have another nice day, a little cool but sunny out.

 

Today is a bit of a change over day. Two of the servers in the Lido for breakfast have their last day today. They are going home at the end of their contract tomorrow. They have both been excellent, every morning greeting us and having our drinks ready.

 

Today we are in another industrial port, and this one is pretty big. We will have two shuttles to chose from, one that simply goes to the port gate and another that goes into town. We will go into town and walk around a bit to see what is here. Most of the European towns I have been to are extremely walkable and I expect this to be the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sky Princess

The shuttle takes you to Blankenburg about 15 minutes from the port gates.

There is 1 main shopping street with several chocolate shops.

At the far end there are about 30 steps and when you climb them you come to the main beachfront promenade.

Alternatively the train station is 100 metres from the shuttle stop.

When you go back to the ship you have to get off the shuttle and walk through the terminal then get another bus to the ship.

We have been to Blankenburg many times as well as Brugge and wish you a lovely day there.

Graham.