Copper10-8

Day 3 - 08/15/2022; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada After departing Bar Harbor yesterday afternoon, Zaandam reentered the Atlantic Ocean proper via the Gulf of Maine and set course for the southeastern most point of Nova Scotia, Barrington. Having reached that destination on a very smooth ride, her navigators then set a heading for a north-north easterly course along the east coast of the peninsula that makes up Nova Scotia’s mainland (the mainland of Nova Scotia is connected to the rest of Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto, on which the province's land border with the province of New Brunswick is located). Halifax, legally known as the Halifax Regional Municipality, is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia. The metropolitan area had a population of 414,400 in 2014, with 297,943 in the urban area centered on Halifax Harbor. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and the Municipality of Halifax County. The municipal boundary thus now includes all of Halifax County except for several First Nation reserves. Since amalgamation, the region has officially been known as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), although "Halifax" has remained in common usage for brevity. Halifax Harbor, a large natural harbor on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, consists of the main harbor, the Narrows, the Bedford Basin, and the Northwest Arm. The entrance to the harbor has McNabs Island on the eastern side and Herring Cove on the western side. It is a very busy harbor with a Canadian Navy base, as well as a Canadian Coast Guard base, Irving Shipbuilding, commercial wharves for shipping, fishing boats, cruise ships, tour boats, yacht clubs, as well as public marina docks offering facilities for the local boating community and visitors. As can be expected, large vessels entering Halifax Harbor are subject to compulsory pilotage, with harbor pilots boarding at the pilot station off Chebucto Head. Zaandam picked that Halifax pilot and then started making the approach to the huge port of Halifax. We were assigned Pier 22 where Capt. Willems parked his ship port side alongside. Weather conditions were once again really nice with bright sunshine and blue skies. We had breakfast in the PG which was good and then got ourselves squared away for our shorex which, today, would take us one hour south of the city of Halifax to Peggy’s Cove and its lighthouse. Once outside via Deck 2 this time, our tour bus was waiting for us, as was our tour guide Greg, Scottish kilt and all, plus the knowledge of a local so we were all set! Off we went towards Peggy’s Cove, the small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margaret’s Bay and famous for the Peggy’s Point Lighthouse, established in 1868. Peggy’s Cove is situated 26 miles southwest of Downtown Halifax proper and comprises one of the numerous small fishing communities located around the perimeter of the Chebucto Peninsula. The community is named after the cove of the same name, a name also shared with Peggy's Point, immediately to the east of the cove. Today, Peggy’s Cove is primarily a tourist attraction, although its inhabitants still fish for lobster, and the community maintains a rustic undeveloped appearance. Upon arrival, we spent roughly one hour and a half to inspect the site and lighthouse which, for us, also included a lunch at the Sou’ Westerner restaurant located within a stone’s throw of the lighthouse. It was an enjoyable visit (haven’t been there for about five years). On the way back to Halifax, we drove by one of the memorials to Swissair Flight 111, a sobering experience! On September 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed into St. Margaret’s Bay with the loss of all aboard. One of two memorials to the victims of the disaster is located at The Whalesback, a promontory approximately 1 km northwest of Peggy’s Cove. The other is located at Bayswater, Nova Scotia, on the Aspotogan Peninsula on the western shore of the bay. The two monuments and the actual crash site are at the vertices of a roughly equilateral triangle across the bay. The monument at Whalesback reads in English and French: "In memory of the 229 men, women and children aboard Swissair Flight 111 who perished off these shores September 2nd, 1998. They have been joined to the sea, and the sky. May they rest in peace." The three notches represent the numerals 111. The sight line from the three grooves in the stone points to the crash site, while the markings on the facing stone point to the memorial at Bayswater. Once back in the city, we had three more stops scheduled; the first one being at the Halifax Public Gardens, a Victorian-era public gardens formally established in 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation. The gardens are located near the popular shopping district of Spring Garden Road and opposite Victoria Park and were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984. We had about an hour to stroll the very nice park complete with a bandstand, statues, extensive flower beds, three fountains, two stone bridges, three ponds (one large and two small), and a small concession building. Next up was another historic site, Citadel Hill and the Citadel. Construction for the present citadel began in 1828 however, the star-shaped fortress was not completed until in 1856, during the Victorian Era, for a total of 28 years of construction. The massive masonry-construction fort was designed to repel both a land-based attack and/or an attack from the water by United States forces. It was a star-shaped hillock citadel with internal courtyard and a clear harbor view from armored ramparts. We watched the changing of the single guard stationed by the main gate by animators (re-enactors) portraying the 78th Highland Regiment (stationed at Halifax between 1869 and 1871). Inside on the parade ground other re-enactors portray the 78ith Highlanders Pipe Band, the Third Brigade of the Royal Artillery, soldiers' wives, and civilian tradespeople. Overall, an interesting visit to the Citadel. Our last stop today was at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in the north end of Halifax, perhaps best known as the final resting place for one hundred and twenty-one victims of the maritime disaster involving the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. Most of them are memorialized with small gray granite markers with the name and date of death. Some families paid for larger markers with more inscriptions. The occupants of a third of the graves, however, have never been identified and their markers contain just the date of death and marker number. A grave marked "J. Dawson" gained fame following the release of the 1997 film “Titanic”, since the name of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in the film is Jack Dawson. Many filmgoers, moved by the story, left flowers and ticket stubs at Dawson's grave when the film was first released, and flowers continue to be left today. Film director James Cameron has said the character's name was not in fact inspired by the grave. More recent research has revealed that the grave actually belongs to Joseph Dawson, an Irishman who worked in Titanic's boiler room as a coal trimmer. After this final stop, our bus driver drove by Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax, Canada’s east coast naval base and home port to the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic fleet, known as Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), the Angus L. Macdonald suspension bridge, the Irving Shipbuilding Halifax shipyard, and the Halifax Town Clock before dropping us back off at Pier 22. All Aboard today was 30 min later at 5:30 PM and exactly 29 minutes later, Zaandam rounded Georges Island with its 1917-built lighthouse and began humming back to sea with a course set for Sydney, Nova Scotia. We once again had a nice dinner and most excellent conversation with our four tablemates of table 36 all the way aft against the stern windows of the MDR. The entertainment tonight was the comedy of Orlando Baxter, who we later heard was very funny however, we once again chose to see the late-night movie inside the Wajang Theatre. This was the Canadian comedy “Men with Brooms” with, among others, Leslie Nielsen. Centered on the sport of curling, the offbeat comedy tells the story of a reunited curling team from a small Canadian town as they work through their respective life issues and struggle to win the championship for the sake of their late coach. See ya’ll manana in Sydney, NS

Greets from a rainy (but not inside 😜) Winston's pub in downtown Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Yes Sir, a trio that plays dance music and, at other times, a single pianist

Happy Hour is generally from 4-5 PM in the Ocean Bar and Crow's Nest; from 9-10 PM in the Sea View Bar; and from 10-11 PM once again in the Ocean Bar with 50% off all house brands and cocktails. Entertainment is by the bartenders 😉 You can find the hours and locations every day in the Daily Program

USCG escorts of cruise ships by the Coasties have been a routine event for quite a while now. They - the escorts - are not always available due to ongoing training, prior commitments, availability (maintenance) of the boats, etc. but you will see them, in addition to local/county/state law enforcement on the water quite frequently and they all do a great job!

I am sleeping on the couch in front of Guest Services tonite, but thanks a bunch for bringing this enormous faux pas to my pea brain attention.............

Day 2 - 08/14/2022; Bar Harbor, Maine (con't) "Humanity" Excellent show!

Day 2 - 08/14/2022; Bar Harbor, Maine After departing Boston on Saturday evening, Zaandam passed Deer Island and entered the Atlantic Ocean to follow a northeasterly course towards the state of Maine, destination Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is situated on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, as well as on Frenchman Bay. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. The town is a popular tourist destination in the ‘Down East’ region of Maine. Prior to a catastrophic 1947 fire the town was a famous summer colony for the super-affluent elite. Bar Harbor is home to the largest parts of Acadia National Park, including Cadillac Mountain, the highest point within twenty-five miles of the coastline of the Eastern United States. Bar Harbor is a tender port, the only tender port on this seven-day Canada/New England voyage. It does have a pier, known as the Town Pier, located opposite Agamont Park, but it’s too small to accommodate a large cruise ship. So that all means tendering operations from one of the two anchorages in Frenchman’s Bay. Bar Harbor has two general anchorages for cruise ships: “A”, approximately one half mile east of the tender landing at the Town Pier and “B”, north of Bar Island, approximately one mile from the tender landing. Zaandam first picked up a Frenchman’s Bay pilot and, once at the “A” anchorage at 0727 hrs., her crew started preparing for tender ops by lowering and rigging the starboard side forward platform and lowering and the “splashing” some of her tenders. Not all six however, because a local sightseeing boat, “Miss Samantha” had been hired as an extra tender. In port (also tendering) with us today was the much smaller ms Independence from American Cruise Line. Homeported in Dover, Delaware and built in 2010, she carried 100 pax and 37 crew and goes up and down the North American eastern seaboard into interesting places and ports too big for us. So, after breakfast, we jelled for most of the morning until 11:30 (open tendering had been called so no need to go to the Wajang Theatre for tender tix anymore) when e down to A-Deck, my old stomping grounds, and down the steps to Miss Samantha who took us ashore. For several years now, HAL and other cruise lines, no longer use the Town Pier for tendering rather a nearby dock located adjacent the Harborside Marina where Andy, Zaandam’s British SECO (security officer) had set up shop. A short walk-up West Street past Paddy’s Irish Pub & Restaurant (great place for lunch) and up Main Street where the real games were to begin. Allow me to ‘splain; Main Street is known as a “window shopper’s paradise,” where the ladies delight and the well-trained husbands follow in tow, most holding their wife’s purses, like the well-trained spouses we are, while attempting very hard not to lose the will to live! It is a place to discover Maine’s famous gemstone, the dazzling and elusive watermelon tourmaline, a chance to bring home a coveted sweetgrass basket woven by one of Maine’s finest Native American artisans, or to remember your trip with a sunny watercolor painting of the Porcupine Islands. Of course, there are also about a zillion ice cream shops on both sides of that bloody street. So, that’s basically how we spent our afternoon! To be completely honest, in addition to being a well-trained and fully domesticated man servant for my lovely wide Maria, we did find a place for some chow by the name of Bar Harbor Beerworks, also on Main Street, a casual family friendly restaurant with good food. We spent about an hour there and then mozzeed down the other side of Main back towards the waterfront. Btw, there are a lot of dogs in Bar Harbor, also fully trained! Oh yeah, one of those ice cream shops did lay out a trap and sucked us in for some very tasty Italian gelato. Gelato typically contains 35% air and more flavoring than other kinds of frozen desserts, giving it a density and richness that distinguishes it from other ice creams. All kidding aside, the main reason we like this itinerary so much are places like Bar Harbor, Montreal, Quebec City, Charlottetown and Halifax, cities and towns that just feel good and have so much to see and experience! Poor Sydney is kinda like the ‘ugly duckling’ in this group. Last tender back to Mum was at 3:15 pm – had a chance for some catching up with the ship’s excellent GRM Daphnae on the tender dock, before taking lucky tender #13 back. Zaandam subsequently hauled up her starboard anchor and tenders and was outtahere by 4:15 pm, setting a sea course for our first Canadian port, that being Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tonight was the first, what used to known as “formal night.” Now known as “Dressy” night. Prior to our 8:00 PM dinner, our first in the main dining room, we shared pre-dinner drinks in the Ocean Bar with my very first boss on the dam ships; Albert-Jan and his lovely spouse Lammy, herself a former HAL employee. Albert-Jan is currently Zaandam’s environmental officer however back in November 2010 on my first contract, he was Maasdam’s chief officer and, as such, my immediate boss. It was good to see both again! As stated, we had our first dinner in the main dining room where we met our table mates, a couple from New Braunfels, Texas (near San Antonio) and another couple from Mesa, Arizona. Conversation flowed and dinner was very nice! When Zaandam first came out that two-tier dining room was known as the Rotterdam dining room. Unfortunately, all those individual names have been removed by the “powers to be” in the emerald city and are now just known by the very boring name “dining room.” Post dinner – we had to rush because the start times here are 9:30 PM as opposed of the much better 10:00 PM – we fast-walked to the World Stage show lounge (another name change from the original “Piet Mondriaan” lounge, named after Dutch abstract painter Pieter Cornelis “Piet” Mondriaan) where the Step One Dance Company was staring in “Humanity”, a very entertaining high energy show with lots of good music and dancing, accompanied by vivid imagery and special effects. We’ve seen Humanity numerous times now, but it remains one of our favorites. Called it a night around 11:15 PM to get ready for tomorrow (Monday) morning excursion in Halifax, NS. See ya then!

Negative Sir! Don't open and delete with extreme prejudice please! Apologies for the inconvenience and quagmire / mal de tete! 😔

Greets from Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada, eh

Can't help you with that one since we got tested at home in L.A. the afternoon before flying to Boston. Mr. Google is your friend, however 😉

Your Dutch math from the middelbare school in Den Haag., class of 1898, is still excellent Meneer! 😜

Both Bruce and Oakridger are correct! No hot tub on the balconies of the remaining two "R" class ships due to limited available space. Instead, they have a large whirltub in their bathrooms

Yes on a negative Covid test taken within 72 hrs of embark. However, keep an eye out because Carniva Cruise Line (so not Carnival Corp yet) just dropped the neg Covid test requirement! My money is on HAL following that in the near future

Day 1 - 08/13/22 Boston, Massachusetts; Embarkation (con't) Following this, we meandered down to Boat Deck / Deck 3 (our lifeboat is lucky No. 7) where we received our safety briefing from Zaandam’s public health officer with directions to ensure we both watched the safety video on our cabin TV, This simplified process was instituted post-Covid and it sure beats standing underneath your lifeboat wearing a life vest waiting for some of your malingering rocket scientist fellow guest(s) to finally show up at their mustard station. Having said that, I hope we never have to find out, but I wonder how those fellow guests will behave in an actual mustering at their lifeboat stations. I have a bad feeling that there will be lots of poultry running about with their noggins chopped off! Brrrrrrrrrr. From 4-5 PM, there was a Mariners (4 stars and up) Reception scheduled in the Crow’s Nest where lots of bubbly was flowing courtesy of the ship’s beverage dept. There was a bit of a receiving line of Zaandam officers staring on the port side, one of which turned out to be the ship’s GRM (guest relations manager) Daphne! Always good to see her again! Our actual departure time from Boston was scheduled for 1700 hrs. / 5:00 PM in non-military terms. However, around that time, Capt. Willems came on the ship’s P/A system to announce that bunkering / the process of taking on fuel for use by ships (in Boston via bunker barge) was taking longer than expected today resulting in our new departure time being dropped back to 7:30 PM or thereabouts. This being our actual wedding anniversary day, we had a 7:30 PM reservation in the ship’s Pinnacle Grill restaurant. On Zaandam, the PG is located on Deck 4, port side, mid-ships behind the Wajang (movie) theatre. We were met at the podium both her manage; “Alph” who hails from Turkey, and the restaurant’s host; Dayrest from the Philippines, who assigned us a nice table along the railing. Gunaran from the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali would be our waiter who did an outstanding job for us! The PG on the “R” class ships (only two left, Zaandam and Volendam) does not have any windows with a view, unless you count the four windows that overlook the starboard side interior corridor. When Zaandam first joined the HAL fleet in the year 2000, that alternative 88-seat restaurant was known as the Marco Polo, sporting the contemporary pan-European warmth of light beech wood. Architect Frans Dingemans strove to create an artists’ bistro with works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Henry Moore, Picasso, Matisse plus a host of unknown talents, each framed in the style of its period. The result was a fine artists’ bistro that looked as if it evolved over the centuries. Open for lunch and dinner by reservation at no additional charge, the Marco Polo featured “California-style” Italian cuisine such as Pollo ala Aglio e Rosmarino, Costoletta di Vitello al Carbone, Petto de Pollo Rustico and Osso Buco ala Milanese. But I digress, we had a nice dinner, consisting of Caesar Salad, Filet Mignon (Maria had the pollo loco), potatoes au gratin, and a Pomegrenade Martini each, finished up by crème Brule and some hot java. Excelente! Post dinner, our choice of evening entertainment wound up watching a movie in the dedicated Zaandam movie theater named the Wajang, located right smack in front of the Pinnacle Grill. The term “Wayang” is the Javanese word for 'shadow' or 'imagination'. The word's equivalent in Indonesian is bayang. In modern daily Javanese and Indonesian vocabulary, wayang can refer to the puppet itself or the whole puppet theatre performance. Which movie did we watch in that extraordinary setting, you might ask? Well, stand by for a surprise! “Falling for Figaro”, a romantic comedy (although listed in the daily program as a “drama / thriller” which it was most definitely not! set in the fierce world of opera singing competitions, starring Danielle Macdonald and Joanna Lumley. Millie (Macdonald) is a brilliant young fund manager, who decides to leave her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend behind to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer in the Scottish Highlands! As soon as the first opera notes started flowing in this flick, a fellow passenger of the male persuasion, seated some distance next to us, got up and while uttering the famous words “Hell, no” exited stage left never to be seen again. Actually, this cinematograph wasn’t that bad, and I definitely do not care for pure chick flicks! And so, this first day/night on the beautiful and elegant Zaandam ended! Tomorrow (Sun) is our call at Bar Harbor, Maine, also known as Bah Haba, Maine! Our only scheduled tender port! See ya then!

There is on the other ships! Will confirm for you tomorrow

Top of the mornin' to y'all from Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

Affirmative and confirmed. All the cable work / connections / cyber stuff is in place. Just waiting for the actual TVs to arrive and be installed

Will see what I can find out

Zaandam's current CD is Glenn Askew, an Aussie, onboard until 10 Oct

I sure did, but the brain obviously was in neutral when I wrote it..............

Hi Barb; Yes Ma'am, those TVs are fortunately NOT interactive! Enjoy your cruise on Zaandam. She's looking nice and has an excellent crew!

Hoping you get healthy soon!

Day 1 - 08/13/22 Boston, Massachusetts; Embarkation So, the game plan this morning for us after breakfast was to take the complimentary Embassy Suites shuttle to Logan Airport, an approx. 15 min ride, and more specifically, to Terminal A, the Delta AL terminal, where we had a 11:00 AM reservation for one of the HAL buses to Black Falcon Terminal where the Zaandam was waiting. Our boarding time was 12:00 Noon. Once inside the Delta Terminal lower level/baggage claim, it was easy to find the blue blazer clad HAL shoreside services with their clipboards. We were checked off their list and asked to find and take a seat among other embarking “Zaanie” passengers. We were advised however, that Zaandam returned to Boston today from her 35-day “Voyage of the Vikings” run to Europe (via Newfoundland/Greenland/Iceland) and back and that there might be a delay in boarding because not all of her disembarking pax had left the ship. No worries! We found two seats and broke out our phones to do some heavy internet surfing. Around 11:25 or so (only 25 min late) one of those sane shoreside ladies came looking for us and advised us that the games (the bus ride) were about to begin. Grabbed our luggage and rolled outside that terminal building where our ride was parked and where our driver was already loading bags in his luggage compartment. Loaded up the hooptee and off we went on an approx. 20 min drive to Black Falcon. That ride turned out to be uneventful. Lots and lots of construction happenin’ in Beantown! Boston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The city proper covers 48 square miles with an estimated population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England and the 23rd largest city in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.7 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 8.1 million people, making it the sixth-largest combined statistical area in the United States. Boston is the county seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. Zaandam was eagerly waiting for her embarking pax parked in front of one of Princess’ shopping carts, that being Caribbean Princess today. In 2010, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which owns and operates Cruiseport Boston, invested $11 million to renovate its main terminal, also known as Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. Cruiseport Boston is less than two miles from historic Faneuil Hall and the Freedom Trail, and only three miles from Boston’s Back Bay, which includes trendy Newbury Street and Copley Square shopping areas. There was a bit of a hiccup upon arrival when our driver asked us all to remain seated until a HAL rep boarded to give us instruction as to wazzup. Problem was that rep never arrived but the Boston longshoremen with their luggage carts did and promptly began offloading luggage, incl. carry-ons that had been placed in the luggage hold due to limited space inside the bus apart from assorted laps but was not tagged for Zaandam. After all, those were carry-ons! So, some of the pax, I was one of them, then exited post haste to ensure that those untagged carry-ons did not get loaded on the carts only to disappear to where tagged luggage was being hauled into Zaandam’s innards/marshaling area to present beaucoup problems for the ship’s housekeeping crew trying to decipher who all those untagged bags belonged to and which cabin(s) to take them to.. OK, problem averted! Everybody once again a happy camper! Next up was the presentation of the mandatory docs inside the terminal, which being (the main ones) passport, boarding pass, Covid vaccination record, Covid negative test result within 72 horas, ArriveCAN properly filled out and proof thereof. We found ourselves across the desk from a nice young lady shoreside agent with an electronic notebook which she soon brought online after inputting our booking # and/or last name, only to advise us that nada came up on her trusty electronic doohickey! Say what? No need to worry as her next-door neighbor agent came to the immediate rescue like the US Cavalry in a John Wayne movie. It turned out the nice young lady’s notebook was not registering properly but his was and there was our registration for both of us1 We were good to go, could pass “Go”, and collect $200 greenbacks to purchase a hotel on the Boardwalk! #2 problem averted and onward we went to the actual check-in via facial recognition! Peace of Cake! Life id good! Ugly pic however, only a mother would love! Next up the obligatory Welcome Aboard pic but we were not obliged because we did not want to fracture any camera lenses and moseyed right by that position and up the jetway that connected Black Falcon to Zaandam’s boat deck where we encountered the third hiccup. Upon presenting my paper boarding pass to the always hardworking trusty Zaandam security guard from India who promptly scanned the barcode and made it hum like a fine-tuned Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale however, when he tried the same on the child bride’s boarding pass, it made an ugly noise like Quint/Robert Shaw scratching his fingernails on that blackboard in the original “Jaws” movie. Maria’s boarding pass was not registered in the ship’s computer, so she could not pass Go, and could not collect her $200. Options? What options? But today is our wedding anniversary! No panic! The quick acting guard overcame that obstacle by manually inputting our stateroom # in his laptop computer and there popped up Maria’s smiling face on his screen! We were Good to Go! 3rd problem averted! Happy Days are here again! Took the elevator to Deck 7 and our cabin for the next seven days and dumped our carry-ons and made it post haste to the famous Lido Market where Maria got herself a lovingly made green salad while I had a nice turkey sandwich hand made by Mr. Putu from the very nice Indonesian island of Bali. On the way back, we met Neptune Lounge concierge Christine A. who had been in the same position on Koningsdam 2021-2022 new year’s cruise to Mexico. Good to see her again! Back to the humble abode where we met our room stewards, Budi (the sr.) and July (his asst.), pronounced “Julie” who promptly brought our checked luggage for us then to start unpacking (didn’t take long). (To be con't.)

A very Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife of 34 years, my rock to lean on, my compass in life; Maria del Carmen! Love ya Babe! Always have, Always will! 😍