Live from the Zuiderdam - August 26 to September 2 - Maine and Canada

[Rubyfisch]

It's been a great first day. Boarding was a breeze, lunch in the lido was tasty (we just had sushi, fruit, and a piece of the peanut butter pie). Sail away from Boston is a lot of fun. The PRIDE meetup was well attended and enjoyable. Dinner was good, and after dinner we spent time in the very empty Crow's Nest.

[oakridger]

@Rubyfisch I'm loving the details you are sharing so far!  It looked like a gorgeous day in Boston to sail out on your cruise.

 

My next cruise will be Zuiderdam next may for the Florida to Netherlands trans-Atlantic so will be tracking along with her until then.  I am excited to be back on Z since my first HAL cruise was on her in 2006.

 

I'll be especially interested to hear your partner's impressions as a first-time cruiser at the end of the trip.  

 

~Nancy

[Rubyfisch]

So - fun fact. At some point between going to sleep and 3:15 am, my phone decided we must have moved over four time zones. So my 7:15 am alarm went off at 3:15 ... 

[Rubyfisch]

Also - good morning from Bar Harbor!

 

Balcony views:

 

More balcony views:

 

Tender launching:

 

Tender on the move:

 

 

Close up of a tender:

 

[Rubyfisch]

Breakfast in the lido - bean and egg burritos, hash browns, and fruit with yogurt:

 

[Rubyfisch]

We are waiting the theater for our excursion. We're doing a boat tour - Historic Lighthouses & Acadia National Park. When I booked it, I googled around because I was curious about the tour and found the company that ran it. The tickets were about $15 cheaper than on Holland. I submitted the price match form, and within a couple of hours they confirmed we'd get $17.50 each on OBC. It was very seamless.

[Sea42]

5 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

We are waiting the theater for our excursion. We're doing a boat tour - Historic Lighthouses & Acadia National Park. When I booked it, I googled around because I was curious about the tour and found the company that ran it. The tickets were about $15 cheaper than on Holland. I submitted the price match form, and within a couple of hours they confirmed we'd get $17.50 each on OBC. It was very seamless.

Wow, I think this is the first time I've read about someone getting the price match! Good for you for pursuing it! I'm surprised the HAL price wasn't much higher though.

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Wow, I think this is the first time I've read about someone getting the price match! Good for you for pursuing it! I'm surprised the HAL price wasn't much higher though.

The amount is based on difference between HAL price and other provider price. @Rubyfisch said that difference was about $15 & they received $17.50 back. Why would you think the refund would be more?

[Sea42]

5 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

The amount is based on difference between HAL price and other provider price. @Rubyfisch said that difference was about $15 & they received $17.50 back. Why would you think the refund would be more?

Because I thought HAL's charge for the excursion would be much higher than what booking directly with a provider would be. To me, that wasn't a very big mark up in price by HAL.

[Haljo1935]

25 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Because I thought HAL's charge for the excursion would be much higher than what booking directly with a provider would be. To me, that wasn't a very big mark up in price by HAL.

Gotcha 

[Rubyfisch]

Pictures from the tender to Bar Harbor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Lighthouses:

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We saw wildlife as well, including bald eagles, seals, and harbor porpoises.

 

Bald eagles:

 

Seals (we were assured those dark spots were seal heads ....):

 

[PigsCanFly]

Great pictures.  We are taking the same trip on Sept 9th and the return trip on the 16th.  We appreciate you sharing.

[Rubyfisch]

Bar Harbor:

 

[Rubyfisch]

So, thoughts on the excursion. You really need to be committed to the desire to see lighthouses. It's long. Like really long. Like four hours from meeting in the theater to getting back to land.

 

Don't get me wrong - it was absolutely beautiful and the guides did a great job. And we had no interest in sitting in traffic at Acadia.  But there were a lot of swells and it was at catamaran. I saw at least two people being actively seasick.

 

So basically, if you love lighthouses and aren't prone to seasickness, it might be for you.

[Rubyfisch]

We walked around for a bit after we got back to Bar Harbor. We collect magnets and Christmas ornaments, so we got one of each. We wanted to get iced coffee, but several of the places were cash only (as was the boat galley). 

 

I've never tendered before and was worried about the wait to get back on. It wasn't an issue at all - we walked right onto a tender and were underway within a minute or two.

 

We got iced coffees in the Crow's Nest and worked on one of the communal puzzles, before walking around a good bit.

[Rubyfisch]

Much to my surprise, we had tea time today. It was labeled as Dutch Tea. We got there about ten minutes early. Note - this is a lunch replacement, but very tasty nonetheless.

 

 

 

[mexico8]

8 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

Breakfast in the lido - bean and egg burritos, hash browns, and fruit with yogurt:

 

You forgot to mention the best part - the cinammon bun!!! 

 

BTW - in the local newspaper today they said that Boston and Chicago were two of the worst cities for traffic (they did not mention LA which we found surprising).   Thought you would be interested to know.

[Rubyfisch]

Just now, mexico8 said:

You forgot to mention the best part - the cinammon bun!!! 

 

BTW - in the local newspaper today they said that Boston and Chicago were two of the worst cities for traffic (they did not mention LA which we found surprising).   Thought you would be interested to know.

I think I got a dud of a cinnamon roll - it was dried out to the point it felt like a cinnamon roll crouton....

[Rubyfisch]

On a whim, I bought us Thermal Suite passes for the trip. While it is lovely and we will use it, we are pretty sure we aren't thermal suite sort of people ...

[Rubyfisch]

Dinner menu:

 

[Cruise NH]

36 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

I think I got a dud of a cinnamon roll - it was dried out to the point it felt like a cinnamon roll crouton....

Get used to that.  We just got off the Zuiderdam on Saturday the 26th (voyage of the vikings cruise).  The rolls and pastries were always dry, bordering on stale.  We thought they might have been previously frozen.

[Rubyfisch]

So far, Starlink is fantastic. I pre-bought one internet package and was planning on upgrading. I have a Pixel 6 so I can share wifi, and we've been fine just hotspotting of my phone.

 

[Rubyfisch]

Just now, Cruise NH said:

Get used to that.  We just got off the Zuiderdam on Saturday the 26th (voyage of the vikings cruise).  The rolls and pastries were always dry, bordering on stale.  We thought they might have been previously frozen.

I think this one had just been sitting under a heat lamp too long. Everything else has been fine to excellent.