richwmn

December 30, 2023 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico Well, it is evening on Volendam. I have had a very nice day aboard. I didn’t feel like tendering today and maybe that was a good idea. Several people mentioned that the process was a bit rough. General trivia at 4pm was pretty good. A three person team came in second with one less point than the winning team. They still aren’t giving out much in the way of prizes, so it is all for fun and second place is fine. The 7pm trivia was beverages and we (team of 4 – different) were again one point behind the winner. That seems to have happened quite a few times this cruise. The questions were pretty good and Rose, who unfortunately is leaving in San Diego, is a good trivia host. I did the 9pm show in the World Stage because Cantare was again featured. They did a very good selection of love songs. The group harmonizes well, and provide a high energy show. I just checked and they are scheduled for a show on January 5th, which appears to be different than the two shows from this cruise. I will be glad to see them again. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. There will be two parties, the big one on the Lido Deck in the Pool Area, and a smaller one around the Ocean Bar. They are scheduled to last from 10pm to 12:45am. Should be a good time.

FWIW -- I just checked with the bartender in MIX and it appears that we will not be seeing any of the College Bowl Games on board. At least not the ones played today.

The stock perk runs from Aug 1st to Jul 31 and has to be renewed at the annual meeting in late April each year. After the meeting you should be able to submit your request.

The total amount of all HAL/CCL provided onboard credit shows up on your Booking Confirmation, AKA Invoice or Guest Copy. Unfortunately not all travel providers forward this information to you, you must ask for it and sometime push as your agent might not know what it is. For a discussion, see this thread.

December 30, 2023 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico To start off, here is our position when I ate breakfast this morning at 7:00am – I haven’t posted since yesterday morning, so a bit of catching up is in order. I ended up staying on the ship yesterday. Just the way things happened. I did take a few pictures from the ship of the port area. At 4:15 the Captain had a reception for those of us continuing on to the Grand Australia. Shortly after I arrived I started talking to a nice gentleman who ended up being the Captain who will be taking over on Jan 3rd. He is a very nice gentleman and we had a good conversation. I also had a chance to speak to the current Captain, Ryan Whitaker, and the Hotel Director, Leonie Henry. I also had a chance to talk to several Cruise Critics members. The bar staff kept the wine and drinks flowing for the length of the meeting, about 45 minutes. I left there and went to the Dive In and grabbed a quick burger, always good. I then went to the Mix and did trivia. My team did well, 15 of the 17 possible points but four or five teams did better. It was, as always, an enjoyable time. I stayed in the rest of the evening and slept late this morning. Our port time today is noon to 5:30pm. It is another tender port, but I don’t know how long the tender ride will be. One thing to note here is that we have not had TV reception in any port. The channels listed are NFL Games, NCAA Football, BBC News, MSNBC, FOX News, Prime One, Prime Favorites, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Bow Camera, and Aft Camera. The NFL link lists one game today and five tomorrow, while the NCAA link doesn’t list any. I am hopeful that at least part of the Orange Bowl today. And finally, the menus for this evening

December 29th, 2023 -- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Tonight’s Menus – Main Dining Room and Lido

December 29th, 2023 -- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico HAL’s weather lists the current temperature as 63°F/17°C. My phone tells me that the high today is expected to be 80°F, another beautiful day in Mexico. Our position at breakfast was already at Puerto Vallarta. Today’s stop was one of the frequent stops on the old TV show ‘The Love Boat’. I almost expect to see Gopher, Doc, and Julie somewhere around town. They were usually the ones who got to visit. We arrived and were fully berthed at 7am, but as the Cruise Director said at the show last night, he did not make the announcement until a little after 8am. Those of us continuing on the the Grand Australia cruise have a meeting with the Captain and Staff this afternoon at 4:15 for cocktails and I suppose instructions for turn around day, which is coming up soon. Last night I was surprised to see another port map in my mailbox, so here it is – Along with today’s activities – I hope everyone has a great day!

I have not been as lucky as some of y'all with the various travel providers I have used. Most of them had no idea what the HAL Invoice was until I convinced them to find it. I also see many replies on this board from people asking what we are talking about when we mention the HAL Invoice. It would be nice, particularly in this electronic age where there is no waste of paper or postage to provide it.

December 28th, 2023 – Mazatlán, Mexico At the end of a very good day on Volendam. The weather has again been fabulous. Mild and sunny, with little cloud cover. I had spaghetti for dinner which was good, followed by cherry pie and ice cream – all from the Lido. Four pm trivia went well, but not great. A little relaxation followed by the 7pm trivia which was all about money. My team was me along with a couple and their son. This has been my team for several of the trivia sessions. We did pretty good, scoring 14 out of 17 but not winning. At 9:00pm I went to the show. The performer was a Ukranian billed as an instrumentalist. He started out with two very good songs by Billy Joel, then touched on Classical, and the Beatles. Over the course of the show he played Piano, Accordion, Trumpet, and a small island instrument. It was a very good show and well received by a good sized audience. I believe he said he will be continuing on to the first part of the Grand Australia.

You are lucky, could be that your PCC knows your preferences and does it. I had several PCCs before I tried a Travel Agent that would not send one unless asked.

On many threads some of our long term posters answer questions with something like it is on your invoice, pg so and so. This puzzles many people because they have never seen what we are talking about. In fact, many travel providers including PCCs, TAs, and HAL agents don't bother to send it. I was talking to my current agent and I was told that the company has a policy that they don't provide the HAL Invoice. I get them because I have been very pushy about them sending one each time something changes. I thought I would show a HAL Invoice for an upcoming cruise, with my personal information removed. This is page 1. Note that it contains the basic information about the cruise, the price, who booked it for you and any onboard credit you might be getting from HAL. It also shows if you booked air, cabin, and category. This is page 2. Note that it shows your total fare again, with a line for what you have paid. This page also shows if you have purchased the protection plan from HAL, and the penalty dates. Then it shows anything included such as wifi, drink package, excursions, etc and information about those items. This is page 3, with some information about your particular booking, such as this particular cruise for me is a guarantee. Any finally, page 4 (and to the end) which shows your itinerary and any special instructions for the ports you will be visiting. This information includes tender ports, wheelchair accessibility, tide warnings, over nights, and any other information that might effect your cruise. Again I must state loudly -- A large number of Travel Providers do NOT provide this information unless YOU tell them you have to have it. You must be pro-active. This is the official record of what HAL is providing. Your travel provider may add items over and above what HAL provides.

December 28th, 2023 – Mazatlán, Mexico And we are off to our next destination. We do have a time change again tonight, back to West Coast time. The weather here has been great and the air fresh. I didn’t go into town today, and enjoyed a relaxing day aboard. A couple of images from the ship –

December 28th, 2023 – Mazatlán, Mexico The ship has been cleared, but before I head off, here is tonight’s menu for the Main Dining Room

The garble comes from special characters that I can't figure out how to get the halfacts server to display. When I am at home and posting in the morning I do put what exists into a search engine it it does come up with other entries for the same wine. I generally try to correct it when I can.

I am in an outside cabin, so my mini bar is not as extensive as the larger cabins. I'll see if I can get one from a verandah. Acqua Panna (1 Liter) $6 Soft Drinks (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite) $2.95 Acqua Panna 6 1 liter bottles for $27 Open Water 12 12 Oz Cans $33.75 only the 1ltr and 6 sodas are in my outside cabin

The "no host mini bar" is not free. You will be charged for anything you take from it. It is also not included in any beverage package. However, if you are 3 star or above you will get a discount on the items you use.

December 28th, 2023 – Mazatlán, Mexico According to the ships weather it is currently 70°F/21°C, with a high of 76°F forecast. Our position at breakfast was – Today’s activities – After my spill yesterday I was going to play trivia at 4pm. Despite not being connected to either a shore tower or ship’s internet, my phone rang with a facebook call. I was connected to the ship’s wifi, but not the internet. I left trivia and went back to the cabin to call them back. I then spent the rest of the evening in, resting and healing. I feel very good this morning. We are still three hours from Mazatlán so no morning port pictures.

As of early this year of late last year the duty of restocking the mini bar belongs to the cabin stewards. I was told this is fleet wide and I have experienced it on Zuiderdam and Volendam.

Tripped over the back of a lounge chair. Everything is just fine now.

I just realized that I didn’t post the evening menu for the MDR earlier, here it is

December 27th, 2023 – Loreto, Mexico Ship’s Officers for the Grand Australia / New Zealand Captain – will be changing 1/3 Chief Engineer – will be changing 1/3 Hotel General Manager – Leonie Henry Environmental Officer – Neda Cruise & Travel Director – Daniel Edwards Food & Beverage Director – Ali Sahin Executive Chef – Javier Carpio Arevalo Future Cruise Consultant – will be changing 1/3 I did tender into Loreto, Mexico for a short while today. It is a very pretty town with a nice walking path by the water. It has been a very clear, temperate day, and it was very nice sitting on a chair near the water. Here are some pictures of the area between the tender dock and downtown.

Just to get it out of the way, and take full credit – I did take a spill on the Lido Deck leaving the Taco Bar a few minutes ago. I am fine. Medical came quickly and gave it more attention than I would have myself. I have a small skinned area on my leg that will heal nicely, most likely before the Grand starts. Nothing else hurt but my pride.

December 27th, 2023 – Loreto, Mexico Greetings from Loreto, another tender stop on the way back to San Diego. According to the HAL weather information, it is currently 63°F/17°C with few clouds. The humidity is 82% and the winds are from the NNW at 10.4 mph. My phone tells me to look for a high of 80°F. In about a half hour tendering will begin and it looks like there might be some things to do within walking distance of the tender dock. Here are today’s activites. I guess the port map from two days ago was a one time deal, we don’t have one again today. And some pictures from the ship this morning.

Good morning from Loreto, Mexico. Just a few more days until the Grand Australia / New Zealand group boards.

Not really picking on you, but I constantly see people mentioning that things on Halfacts are old. Have you considered asking for a new map if you think the one that is posted is wrong, then submitting it? Have you send in cabin pictures? If more people did this the site would be more up to date.