asebastian

Booked for Aug 2021 (Med cruise); will monitor and see what happens as it's 14 months away. A 2022 Panama Canal cruise is in the wish list. Our Oct 2020 New England cruise unfortunately is a no go.

7 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Hookah and Water Hookah Pipes

Damn, need to leave my stash of hashish  behind too, next... 😂

Some like the Mediterranean cruise on the Westerdam for August 2021 from Barcelona has already been released a month ago.

Well done, HAL.

The bags are made of some sort of plastic material. We had two delivered to us in our last cruise on the NS (Baltic cruise).

MDR breakfast is a la carte with a lot of items over and above what you get in Lido. Some simple things such as porridge are done really well. Eggs benedict has 2-3 versions, coffee and tea is good. A really nice place to relax, have a good breakfast and good start to the day.

Also much quieter than Lido too.

We were in China (Beijing, Xi'an, Zhangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai) just 4 weeks ago. Cash from ATMs are easily obtained (we used Bank of China); minimum is RMB500, then it goes up 1000, 2000. Exchange rates were favorable. While the Chinese have a preference for eWallet payments (WePay and AliPay), you can still pay cash (yuan only) or CC in larger stores/restaurants. Everyone else still accept cash, even taxis, especially if you're a foreigner.

We didn't see many foreign exchange places, except in the airports and railway stations. I would say if you're traveling deeper into the country, they may not even want to accept foreign currency due to their unfamiliarity.

I loaded up a debit card and used it in the ATMs. My 2c worth - don't carry a lot of cash ($), just use the ATMs as you go along and you'll be fine. Contrary to what someone else said above, ATMs are not difficult to use, you get a couple of opportunities to switch the language to English during your transaction.

Have any of you considered Airbnb instead of hotels? There are several new apartment buildings in the vicinity of the central train station that has Airbnb accommodation. For our New England cruise next year, we've booked post-cruise accommodation in Montreal and Toronto, all within walking distance of the station as we would be using VIA rail from Quebec City to Montreal to Toronto.

In the NS, they also showed feature films on the big LED screen in the top deck pool area. Lots of deck chairs and other seats arranged all round the pool, but the sound is not too good, bad acoustics.

Really big machines! I've posted some photos from our recent trip on the NS taken during the Behind The Scenes tour of the lower decks.

• Tagging machine. Tags are color coded to show wash temperatures.
• Big washing machines (in blue). Multiple machines running all the time. Separate smaller machines for laundry from the medical center as well as quarantined passengers. Ship's laundry (linen from staterooms and all dining areas are also washed separately).
• Washed clothes are basically steamed dried in seconds individually, and ironed if necessary.
• Sheets etc all come out dry and folded by the machine!
• Pre-delivery check on racks.

The temperature in the laundry room was really high, warm and humid like a sauna. The boys working there get frequent breaks and lots of water. They run on 24x7 shifts.

Yes available all day in the NS (we've just come off the ship after a Baltic cruise). In addition to lemonade, you can get iced tea, hot water, regular and decaf coffee, a large selection of teas as well as hot chocolates and milk.

If you're in the Lido and find a dispenser closed, just continue walking around to the other side. Sometimes they are closed for cleaning and/or refill.

Enjoy!

Re: Indian menu, you're not limited by the menu as well. On our recent NS cruise, we opted to have an Indian night at the MDR and requested thru the MDR supervisor to prep a few dishes for us (tandoori chicken, naan, basmati rice, potato curry, dhall, raita and papadums). They need just 24hrs notice ahead of time, and we really enjoyed this meal.

Something to consider. They will of course also do a full vegetarian version, or add more meat such as lamb rogan gosh etc.

3 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Then you need these guys to keep 'em rowing together 

 

Looks like BB King band with 4 & 5 star mariners rowing...lol

9 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Great photo of the horizontal fin there, John! Seldom see it stretched out as it's always under the waterline.

I'd like to think that if they run out of fuel, it can become an oar and row the boat... 🙂

We're booked on that cruise now out of Boston; and decided not to cancel when the itinerary changed as we have plans to be in NYC for over 2 weeks at that stage (US Open Tennis). So need to factor in a train trip from NYC to Boston for the start and we should be all set.

Pity we are missing a couple of ports that we were looking forward to, but that's life!

Yes, the 10-day New England cruise on Sep 7 from NYC to Quebec City has also been re-routed to start from Boston to Quebec City with changes to the ports. I have posted the detailed itinerary changes in the roll call.

8 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Apparently,  the feedback received as a result of this test period made the storming of the Bastille political prison in la ville lumiere on the afternoon of 14 July 1789 seem like a tempest in a proverbial demitasse 

Well said, John!

19 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

1) Are we likely to have specific guest lecturer(s) on the 20 day Antarctica itinerary? 

 

On the 22-day Antarctica/South America cruise on the Zaandam in Jan/Feb this year, we had about a dozen scientists and researchers from the Palmer Antarctic Station come onboard on their zodiac for a long Q&A in the main theater. They were also walking around in other parts of the ship and Lido areas for any questions later on.

In the shortened cruise, I'm unsure how "deep" into Antarctica territory the ship goes, so unable to comment.

Below are a couple of photos of the zodiac.

7 hours ago, p_mori7 said:

 

It's about 30-35 kms (20-22 miles) to get from the Port to Ste-Anne de Beaupré.

 

PLUMobile offers small bus service from Quebec City to the Basilica (as points before-after)...but the service is very limited.

 

http://www.plumobile.ca/index.php?lang=en

Will check it out. Thank you.

Hi, can the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Sanctuary be reached on public transport from Quebec City? If so, please provide details.

Thanks

We've booked TJ for our upcoming tour next month. According to the roll call, most of them seem to book Alla, one following the other, hence I think they may be crowded and over-subscribed! We had personal recommendations for TJ from one of our cruise companions from a previous cruise. They are also rated very highly in Trip Advisor.

Happy Canada Day! We'll be visiting you Sept 2020...can't wait! 🙂

Speaking of whales impaled and draped over the bulbous bow of the ship, here's some light relief from a couple of photos I took during the Jan South America/Antarctica cruise on the Zaandam - taken in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Enjoy!

Wow Ine, that hotel looks fantastic. If we have time, we may actually get off the train for a wonder around the station and hotel for photos and jump on the next train and continue onwards. I assume the trains are quite frequent and we can use the same tickets.

We're planning to go there too ahead of our Baltic cruise in August. Most probably will take the train across and the bus back for a change of scenery. The train passes the small town of Zaandam, hoping to take a photo of the sign as the HAL Zaandam is one of our favorite ships!