richwmn

December 26th, 2023 -- Pichilingue (La Paz), Baja California Sur, Mexico It is a beautiful day in Baja California Sur. The sky is clear, the temperature moderate, and the sun isn’t too bright. It is a great day for all kinds of outdoor activity. As mentioned earlier, today our stop is in an industrial port. HAL and / or the locals are providing a shuttle that takes about 20 minutes to get to the nearby ‘big’ city which is the capital of the Mexican state we are in. The bus dropped us off at the city’s bus terminal, along with everyone traveling by bus to distant places. The bus station is, however, located across the street from the beach in an area with lots of shopping and many restaurants. I was enjoying the day when I got a call that sent me back to the ship to try and take care of a couple of things. The downside of being away, but at least it can be handled from here, thanks to T-Mobile and the ship’s internet. Here are some photos of the port and La Paz

December 26th, 2023 – Pichilingue (La Paz), Baja California Sur, Mexico We are just pulling in for an expected 8am chance to visit this port. During the run up to Cantare last night we were told that the port has absolutely nothing to do, and it is an industrial port. We do have free shuttles to La Paz, which is the capital of this Mexican state. Our position at breakfast, about 30 minutes ago -- Today’s activities, unfortunately no port map for today.

December 25th, 2023 It is late in the evening on what has been a very full Christmas Day. In addition to being Christmas Day, it was also the first port day on this cruise. Today was Cabo and I did tender ashore for just a bit. The area around the marina was active with only a few businesses closed. The weather was comfortable and the tender ride fairly short. The 4:00pm trivia was challenging for two oldies. We got 8 points out of a total of 17. A couple of the questions I know most younger people would have been able to answer. Speaking of younger people, I know we have a bunch aboard but they are being kept busy and I haven’t really noticed them. After trivia I grabbed a bit to eat and relaxed a bit. Trivia again at 7pm with the full team I have had for many of the sessions so far. We did better with four people and a span of ages, but still didn’t come out on top. It was still enjoyable, for the company as much as the competition. Shortly after trivia ended I headed to the World Stage. Tonight’s show was Cantare, a four piece vocal group. They did an active show of group songs featuring the Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Abba, and others. The show was very good and kept the audience. After Cantare I walked the full deck and listened to the band playing in the Ocean Bar for a bit. The Ocean Bar had a good crowd with a lot of people dancing. The five piece group had a good sound and the lead singer had a good voice. Everyone appeared to be having a good time.

December 25th, 2023 Christmas in Cabo Today is a tender port so I waited a while to even attempt to go ashore. When I did the wait was pretty short. It was a quick tender ride to the marina where, despite it being Christmas, pretty much everything was open. Here are some picture around the marina, and from the ship. And here are tonight’s menus for the Main Dining Room.

December 25th, 2023 Christmas in Cabo Today is a tender port so I waited a while to even attempt to go ashore. When I did the wait was pretty short. It was a quick tender ride to the marina where, despite it being Christmas, pretty much everything was open. Here are some picture around the marina, and from the ship. And here are tonight’s menus for the Main Dining Room.

Since your proposed cruise begins in a foreign country, the PVSA does not apply. You could disembark in Juneau if HAL give you permission and US Customs & Immigration is willing to provide an agent to process you.

I never said it was right, just pointing out that the staff uses the term incorrectly as well. And with the staff using Jones Act, it is much more likely that the passengers will.

December 25th, 2023 – Christmas Day in Cabo It is 7am in Cabo and the tenders are being lowered. Tender service is supposed to begin at 8am, along with the arrival of Santa for the kids aboard. Our position at 7am is: Some images of Cabo just before day break Our activities for today And something I haven’t seen for a while, a port map

Unfortunately, it is not just passengers. I said something once to a staff member who said Jones act and his reply was that Jones Act was commonly used so that is what he called it.

Merry Christmas from Cabo. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

December 24th, 2023 – Christmas Everyone It is late on Christmas evening aboard Volendam. On the east coast of the US it is already Christmas Day. It has been a fun, full day on the ship as we move into Christmas Day. The ship has been festive, both Guests and Staff. We had three sessions of trivia today -- 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm. I joined up with a couple and their son for all three sessions and we did ok. The first was identifying logo images with the company name removed. About half were easy, a couple more were ok, and several were downright hard. At 4pm it was general trivia and at 7pm we dealt with Christmas Carols, but it wasn’t listening and identifying it was facts about the carols and identifying the song from the fact. Tom joined us for the final one, and we did ok but didn’t win. There’s always tomorrow. At 9pm there was a comedian, Tyrone Hawkins, who was pretty good. The theater was pretty full on both levels. He got quite a few laughs and a good reception from the audience. At 11pm we are going to have three choral groups made up crew members. That will conclude the evening aboard the ship. Santa will arrive tomorrow morning at the same time we arrive in Cabo.

Christmas Eve Dinner in the Main Dining Room

December 24th, 2023 – Christmas Eve at sea Good morning from Volendam. I think I covered yesterday’s activities pretty well with updates during the day. For right now I will just add today’s activities. It is 6:30 and about time to head to breakfast.

Good morning and Merry Christmas from Volendam, this has been another wonderful cruise so far. Lots of great people.

December 23rd, 2023 – Afternoon Just a quick note on the activities so far today. 11:30 – Mariner Society Reception. This was in the Crows Nest for about 45 minutes. We had a good crowd and a pretty good turn out. Everyone, of course, was festive and several Staff members introduced themselves. Sparkling water flowed. I met several nice people and had a good time. 12:20 – Lunch in the lido. I don’t think that I have mentioned it yet, but Volendam still has a nice taco bar beside the Dive In. I had a nice quick lunch there between other activities. It was well stocked and everything was very good. It was nice to see it and I wish the Taco Bar was available on the other ships. 1:00pm – Cruise Critic M&G. I followed the roll call but I’m not sure I ever posted on it. I knew when the M&G was so I showed up. There was a nice turnout, not real big and I saw a couple of people I knew. I enjoyed the M&G and I’m glad I showed up. 1:50pm – Wine Tasting. This is something I never thought of attending until last year. For background, I am not much of a wine drinker. In 2019 on the Trans Pacific Cruise to Australia a couple of people included me in a private wine tasting during which I gained a bit of an appreciation for wine. Since then I attended two wine tastings on last years World Cruise and the one today. It is interesting to find out the information and learn a bit more about the wines included. Both presenters were very accomplished speakers. More later!

I found this out a little while ago 1968 Crew of USS Pueblo released by North Korea 55 years ago

I did see this yesterday, but I took it as a rhetorical question. I assume that we still get the proper discount, but will ask at the wine tasting (hic) at 1:50

Gingerbread Village in Atrium Sea outside on a beautiful day

Good morning from Volendam off Baja California. Everything has been going just fine, the ship looks wonderful and I settled right in. I don't look at the halfacts version of the Daily very often and didn't realize that the wrong ships were listed in the Eastern Hemisphere, I corrected that a few minutes ago. Hope everyone is having a great weekend leading to Christmas Day on Monday.

December 23rd, 2023 – Notes after breakfast. I had a very good night’s sleep last night and woke a little after 6 local time. Everything seemed familiar for some reason. Breakfast started at 7, so I did a few things around the cabin and headed to the Lido right at 7. I enjoyed my typical breakfast with the normal great service. Right at opening the Lido restaurant is generally pretty empty and easy to get around. Today at 11:30am the Mariner Society is having a reception for 3,4, & 5 Star Guests in the Crows Nest. That is scheduled for 45 minutes. The Cruise Critic M&G is scheduled for 1pm, also in the Crows Nest. At 1:50 pm I have an invitation for a complimentary wine tasting in the Main Dining Room. So far I have had no problems other than my card not working in my door right away yesterday. While I was getting that taken care of I overheard the interaction between Guest Services and another Guest. The Guest is in an outside cabin. She was under the impression that she had a balcony. She was trying to get Guest Services to ‘correct’ the problem. Guest Services was trying to tell her that she needed to contact whoever booked the cruise for her, but she wasn’t having any of it. The ship, of course for the holidays, is full. I was able to leave before she did. On another note, I ran into Scooter tom last evening. I met him on Nieuw Statendam last October. Very nice guy and had a nice conversation with him.

December 23rd, 2023 -- Good Morning I didn’t post the Schedule for yesterday – Notice that it is called THE DAILY and here is today’s schedule

December 22nd, 2023 – Good night! Just a quick note before calling it a night. The ship has been lively tonight. The entertainment has been pretty good. I sampled each and was pleasantly surprised. First, the Main Stage did the ‘Origin Story’. I have seen it and it is worth seeing. Next we have the Ocean Bar with a combo playing danceable music. Then we have The Mix with a single pianist. Both the combo and the single pianist were pretty good. I also stopped in for a music trivia, and the presentation and content was pretty good. The combo and the pianist each had three sets. A cocktail pianist also played two sets, but I wasn’t around for that. Tomorrow there will be a classical duo in the Explorers Lounge. The Casino had a moderate crowd. I did run into a couple of people so far that I have met on previous cruises.

December 22nd, 2023 – On Televisions and hookups A common question on this board is “Can I hook up my (insert device) to the tv in the cabin?” While it is not something I would want to do, I am going to discuss the possibility in my cabin. Please understand this only applies to Volendam HH3300. Most likely the other outside and maybe inside cabins are similar. The TV sits on a shelf above the desk and is easy to view from the bed or the love seat. Behind the TV is a rather large area containing 4 European style outlets. Only 1 of the outlets is in use for the TV. I am using 2 of the others for my laptop and a European type USB charger. The back of the TV looks to contain only two connectors, one of which is an ethernet (network) connector. The other I am not sure of. On the side of the TV it appears that it has 2 hdmi connectors and 1 usb connector. It appears that a hdmi cable or usb drive could be attached with little or no trouble. I do not have a remote of any type to test the TV with. The one in my cabin happens to be an LG model. The main menu on the screen looks identical to that I saw on Nieuw Statendam and Zuiderdam last year. Current Channel lineup is EWTN Holiday Programming Schedule, NFL Games, NCAA Games, BBC News, MSNBC, FOX News, Prime One, Prime Favorites, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Bow Camera, and Aft Camera. I haven’t checked but I believe ships announcements are on Bow Camera. There is a group of programs designated TV On Demand which includes 6 Ocean Originals and One ‘Other’. There are also three music channels – The Beach, Plaza, and Classical. The remote is very basic and is designed only to access the necessary HAL functions.

Glad you got everything straightened out and are able to join us. We had a good sail away today and everyone is in a festive holiday mood.

Whoever said you were out of compliance didn't look back far enough. Finally, someone did. Glad you will be joining us. (Sent from Volendam)