richwmn

May 11 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Today is the last day of the 2023 World Cruise. It has been an adventure with many highs and a few lows. Tomorrow we disembark in Fort Lauderdale. I know a few will be staying aboard, and some friends are boarding tomorrow. Most people will be flying out of Fort Lauderdale, some Miami, and a few are spending a night or more in Fort Lauderdale. I am in the last group. I am not flying home until Saturday. I hope everyone has an easy time getting to their destination.

To some degree it will depend on the way the cruise was sold. If the cruise is only sold as a single cruise (say 7 or 14 days) without a turnaround the comic will have new material for each show. However, if what you are looking at is two cruises back to back, you will probably see the same material for each of the cruises. For example: Zuiderdam did a 7 day Christmas, followed by a 5 day New Year, then the World Cruise. A comic was aboard for the holiday cruises and the first part of the World. He did one night for each segment and the shows were pretty much the same.

May 9 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida We are still making our way to Fort Lauderdale. Everyone is packing and starting to say good-bye to those aboard. The Masquerade Party last night was pretty nice and well attended but not crowded. The Ocean Bar Band played, and were very entertaining. Quite a few people were up and dancing, including our Captain. Everyone was having a good time.

With renunciation life begins. - Amelia Barr Where compassion is the wish that others not suffer, renunciation is the wish that I not suffer. What causes me to suffer? Wanting. Renunciation, then, means not so much giving up things, desires, or a way of life, but giving up desiring itself. But to do so is not so easy. https://tricycle.org/magazine/you-cant-always-get-what-you-want/

Some of my pictures from Malaga

this was posted in the first drink thread and I thought everyone here would enjoy it. @Copper10-8

I am currently on Zuiderdam. I turned on bluetooth and found 6 tv sets. Each had an identical name. If you manage to hook up to the tv in your cabin you still might have problems casting to it.

I post daily as the Fleet Report and Daily with a suggested meal. My actual meals are not noteworthy

May 9 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Today’s trivia consisted of questions submitted by guests 1. According to a Disney song, how tall was Paul Bunyon? 2. Before London, what was the capital of England? 3. What TV show starred Johnny Weissmuller? 4. Which artist painted a private collection of porn which no one else saw? 5. What is the name given to the last living member of a species before extinction? 6. Who was the male villain in Pride and Prejudice? 7. Which medal was awarded to Malta in WWII and appears on it’s flag? 8. What country is William Shatner from? 9. Who lived at 79 Wistful Vista? 10. Who is considered to be the father of geometry? 11. What was the only thing worn by Eric Shultie? 12. What is the first name of KFCs Colonel Sanders? 13. Before decimalization what was the difference between 1 guenia and 1 pound? 14. Which has more edges, a octahedron or a hexahedron? 15. What is the southernmost country in Scandinavia? 16. Who were the first couple to be show sharing a bed on prime time TV? 17. What part in a CD player has the same role as a stylus in a record player? 18. Which sport is played over 5 days with breaks for lunch and tea? 19. In 1979 Evelyn Walker was the first woman to run 100 meters in under how many seconds? 20. Who played Michael Knight in Knight Rider? Bonus: What is the diameter and thickness of a hocky puck?

Today's menus and activities. Today is the final Formal Night for the cruise

Just returned to my cabin and I have tv and internet again It didn't take them long to fix it.

It has been an interesting morning. When I woke up I tried to check the time since we had to change time zones this morning and both the internet and tv were down. I decided to go to breakfast early and found that the internet was working on the Lido deck. After breakfast, back to the cabin and mine is still down but works in the elevator lobby. A call to the desk and they will get on it. So right now I'm at the Lido pool on battery checking in. In response to your question about bags, I brought two good sized bags which is a little more than twice what I usually travel with. Neither was packed solid and both carried books which I donated to the library at the first part of the cruise. In addition we received a duffel bag so I have plenty of storage for the return trip. Tonight is the Masquerade Ball, being held in the Crow's Nest. Hope everyone has a great day!

Today's activities and menus

May 8 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Yesterday I talked about the ports, today I will talk about the staff aboard Zuiderdam. With a few exceptions we have had the same people from the start. These are people that I have had direct dealing with or in the case of Captain Frank, at least the announcements each day. Captain Frisco Kramer gezegd Freher Captain Freher was in charge of Zuiderdam from the start until Cape Town. As I mentioned earlier, he was all over the ship and very easy to talk to. His announcements were fun and informative. Captain Frank von der Hoeven Captain von der Hoeven took over in Cape Town. I don’t see him out and about as much, but when I have seen him he does seem to be available. Henk Mensink – Hotel General Manager In the past the Hotel General Manager has been a position that I have been aware of but I don’t think that I could tell you who filled that position. Henk can be seen around the ship at all times of the day and evening and participates in the activities. At most ports he is one of the officers at the gangway greeting guests leaving the ship and sometimes those arriving back. He has mostly been easy to talk to. Ian Page – Cruise & Travel Director Ian is an interesting bloke. By title it seems that he is in charge of the entertainment staff but it seems that function belongs to someone else. Ian introduces each act on the World Stage and does a couple announcements each day. He has also done presentations on the World Stage. The presentations I attended were well done. Manish Lopes – Assistant Hotel General Manager This is another position that I have been aware of but I don’t think I have ever had any type of interaction this officer. Manish has been around the ship quite a bit and has been very easy to talk to. He generally greets me by name when we run into each other. He is one of the officers that has made this trip much better. Neil Reilly – Future Cruise Consultant In the past my only dealings with the FCC has been to purchase Future Cruise Deposits. In general I have had cruises already booked well into the future. I had occasion to talk to Neil several times this cruise and he handled my questions very well and I did book a cruise thru him that my Travel Agent has already acknowledged. Ode & Fa – My current Cabin Attendants When I changed cabins to begin the World Cruise, Ode & Fa became my cabin attendants. They have been very good about keeping my cabin clean, as well as the verandah. They have always been cheerful and have greeted me whenever they saw me anywhere on the ship. Deni & Padi – My Holiday Cabin Attendants I must also mention these two. For the first twelve days aboard Zuiderdam I had a different cabin with these two as my attendants. This is my third dealing with Deni and he has always been a very good worker. I was very happy to see him on the first day and a bit sad that he wouldn’t continue for the World. Padi was also very nice and easy to get along with and both did a very good job. Mikie – Beverage Attendant Most of my beverages have been in the Billboard bar. Mikie has been one of the attendants since I boarded the ship. He has also filled in at events in other bars such as the big final sail away. He has been very good about getting my drinks and snacks and very easy go get along with. Edmund – Beverage Attendants Edmund is also in the Billboard bar. He has also been very good about talking to my group and making sure we have everything we need. Leo – Bartender Leo is the bartender in Billboard and also the Lido bar during the afternoon. While I don’t generally deal with him directly, he always greets me when he sees me. He makes a good drink and is easy to talk to. Rasheed – Bartender Rasheed was the bartender in the Crow’s Nest during afternoon trivia on sea days. It didn’t take long for him to know that we would be there and have a space ready for my group when trivia was on the schedule. He was easy to talk to and was good at joking around with us. Unfortunately he left the ship in Oslo and the Crow’s Nest is not quite is good. Sandra – Entertainment Supervisor Sandra was the head of the Entertainment staff until I believe Cape Town. She was responsible for trivia and other activities. Her trivia sessions were fun and she was around during other activities and talked to my group regularly. Simon – Entertainment Supervisor Simon took over for Sandra and after a bit of getting used to he has been a good staff member. His trivia sessions are fun, but high might over emphasize Barbra Streisand. He also is easy to talk to during other activites. Jessica – Entertainment Staff Most of where I see Jessica is trivia, but she is part of other activities such as sailaway, the barn dance last night, game nights, and others. As with the other staff I have dealings with she talks with us and seems to enjoy her job. Suzanna – Entertainment Staff Suzanna is another trivia host and is also very good. She seems to enjoy the sessions. She is also at other activities encouraging the guests to participate. Spencer – Sports Director (Entertainment Staff) Spencer is a ‘jack of all trades’. He does trivia on some subjects, but also hosts things like shuffleboard, corn hole, bocce ball, and others. The activities he hosts are always fun and part of that is his attitude.

HAL does this as well and it is helpful but not always in sight.

I just saw this on a FB page. It really fits me right now! "People who ask me what I'm doing tomorrow probably assume that I even know what day of the week it is."

I usually get it in cash, but yes it can be returned to a credit / debit card

When you get on board look at your account (on the tv, the app, or your computer). You will see entries for all your OBC. At the bottom will be two totals, one refundable and one for non refundable. As you spend the non refundable will be used first. At the end of the cruise, anything in the non refundable will go away, any refundable OBC can be received in cash or credited to the card you have on file. Non refundable is provided by HAL, refundable is purchased by the TA. You can get non refundable from your TA as part of a pass thru promotion.

May 7 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Another day at sea, and very relaxing. Preparations are being started for getting off the ship. Today is the last day to turn in laundry and as mentioned yesterday we have already received the disembarkation paperwork. The group that I am booked thru is having a goodbye party tomorrow and I’m sure that over the next few days the other groups will be doing the same thing. Since we have completed our last port stop, it might be a good time to talk about the ports we have visited. To start off with the two ports I would return to any chance I get are Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama and Praia da Vitoria, Azores. Both are places I lived in for over a year a long time ago and visits bring back a lot of good memories and give me additional ones. Lisbon is another city that I had visited before and enjoyed returning. Any visit there would be a welcome day. I would like to visit Copenhagen again but I think it deserves more than a cruise ship stop. Dublin was another stop that I enjoyed on two different occasions. Between the two stops I got to see a good portion of the Irish countryside and would enjoy seeing more. Turning to Norway, we had several stops there. Each was pretty and a good visit. Given the resources to do so, I would be very happy to return to the same ports and maybe others in Norway. I had visited Eidfjord on the Voyage of the Vikings in 2017 and was pleased to return. Visiting the Polynesian area is always nice. The islands are beautiful and the people are very nice. Between this World Cruise and a 2019 TransPacific I have visited several of the islands and enjoyed the visits. Most of the ports are great as cruise ports and many would stand alone as places to visit for several days by themselves. Australia and New Zealand are both wonderful stops. As mentioned above I visited both in 2019 as well and I’m planning to visit again on the 2024 Grand Australia. Each visit was unique and very enjoyable. The other major place we visited over the World Cruise was Africa. This was my first visit to Africa and it was very different. Cape Town was a very nice, modern city and was a good place to visit. On the other hand, Durban seemed to be very poor. In Durban I had a tour that took a group of us to a very local area and I was surprised at how the local people live. In Senegal we were not allowed to leave the ship, and supplies that were sitting in the port stayed there. Morocco seemed to be nice and I did enjoy Casablanca. The European ports were all nice, several were places I had visited before and enjoyed the return visit.

May 7 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Portland / Weymouth on April 14th

North Atlantic Sunrise

May 6 – at sea destination Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Well, yesterday might have been my busiest day on this cruise. My first duty station in the Navy was Terceira Island, so I lived there for 14 months. In September of 2017 I had the opportunity to visit the island again. You can find what I posted then here: http://www.wa70.com/trip/Azores.html. I had arranged for the same driver I had in 2017 to pick up me and 3 other people, one of whom had also been stationed on Terceira but 20 years after I was. The driver, Tony, arrived promptly at 8:00am and we took off around the island. We started with a quick tour of Praia da Vitoria, followed by a drive to the highest point on the island. We then came back to the coast and began a complete trip around Terceira. While going around we also managed to stop at the house where one of the other guests had lived while he was stationed at Lajes AFB. It was a wonderful day of memories. We arrived back at the ship at about 3:00pm. After a short break it was off to Billboard for the early trivia session. When it was over, it was time for sail away at the mid ships Lido Pool. For the final sail away we were treated to free flowing white or red wine and small food treats. The Ocean Bar band was playing for background music and everyone had a good time. At 5:30pm I was off to the buffet for a bit of ‘real’ food. After a short break back to Billboard for another trivia. With trivia complete, the World Stage show was about to start so I went to my preferred seat to see the show. The show was billed as ‘The Comedy & Variety of Tom Crosbie’. He bills himself as a nerd and quite a few of his jokes were based on that. Most of the Variety consisted of him solving Rubik’s Cubes and talking about that pastime. It was mildly funny and not a terrible way to spend 45 minutes. After the show I went up to Deck 10 and walked around for a bit. When I arrived back at my cabin I realized it was a bit past 8:00pm and in Billboard they were supposed to have an Officers vs Guests trivia. I hurried downstairs to find the trivia almost completed and no Officers to be seen. I then returned to my cabin where I saw a message that Jett was headed to the Casino and I went back downstairs to meet her. After making a donation to the Casino, I was finally in for the evening. So that brings us to today, the first of six sea days on the way back to Fort Lauderdale. We had a time change this morning, and we have three more hours to make up before we are back in sync with the East coast. We received our paperwork for disembarkation and have been notified that the last laundry will have to be turned in tomorrow. Luggage can be placed in the hallway from 8:00am on the 10th until 11:00pm on the 11th. Those who have luggage shipment have already received their information. We will have the normal sea day routine of meals and three sessions of trivia. This will be our routine for the next few days until Fort Lauderdale. Today's Activities Today's Menus Around Terciera Island The bullfight ring in Angra The final sail away

May 5 – Praia da Vitória, Açores, Portugal Just a quick update before going ashore Position at 6:15am Position of Zuiderdam at dock This morning at Praia da Vitoria And today's activities

VB10019 is on deck 10, one deck above and forward of the pool, and even further forward of the Lido Buffet. One end of your corridor exits to the Crow's Nest, the other end (near your cabin) exits to the outside deck where you can walk around. This is also where jogging is permitted. The balconies are smaller than on lower decks. Benefits, next to Crow's Nest for Coffee and Drinks, along with some activities. An elevator ride down to the Main Stage and other entertainment. Otherwise, a bit of a walk to the Lido Buffet and the same with an elevator ride to the Main Dining Room. @dfish posted at the same time!!