Destiny0315

It's a beautiful morning in Quebec City as the HAL Zuiderdam will very soon be arriving. The small Ponant ship Le Bellot arrived there earlier and will be there until 5pm.

Well the QC webcam faces South so you can let family/friends know that you will be sailing in from the right middle of the screen. The old Prinsendam ready to sail away any minute.

With many posts and posters this week following here the travels of the big Z (Zuiderdam) and the little Z (Zaandam) on their cruises to Canada here is where starting tomorrow we can follow them live as they visit Quebec City at this link to the Port of Quebec Webcam. In fact at least one of these two ships will be in the port over three of the next four days(Sept 1,2, and 4). Starting tomorrow morning before 9am edt the Zuiderdam should be arriving and staying until Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile the Zaandam will arrive early on Saturday morning after 6am edt and stay until later in the afternoon. After spending Sunday in Montreal the Zaandam will return to QC for a visit on Monday. Ironically the ship that is currently in the port and scheduled to leave shortly at 11pm edt is the Phoenix Reisen Amera, known better to all of us as the former HAL Prinsendam! https://www.youtube.com/live/UYCMrgERcyA?feature=shared

It has always been a Cruise Director to me too. Only in the last few years has HAL changed their staffing profile and split the duties of the CD and created and Entertainment Director who oversees all operations in that category.

Right, they are in the I was just doing my job situation. It is misleading in that it is described by HAL as, EXC Talk: Iconic Canada The Hidden Story of Canada's Famous Symbols. No where from that description would one expect to find much, if any humor inserted into it.

You are probably right that they have switched out once over the summer. HAL has stopped for sometime now giving out a lot of info on their Cruise and Travel Directors (which is the term they use now) and their assignments, unlike Carnival who throws them into the spotlight and publishes their schedules. But I did find this article that was just published by HAL about Jordyn. https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/recent-articles/whats-new/catch-up-with-the-crew-meet-jordyn-cruise-and-travel-director/

Clearly they are still just looking to fill up ships for the short term and collect the final payments over the winter.

The HAL Labor Day Sale is now up live on their website! Atm though only 181 of the total of 789 sailings coming up by HAL are showing in the sale window, and nothing past May of '24! 🤔

It may be tough to get one but the best views are from the tables near the large aft windows in the mdr as you watch it spread across the horizon as you sail away from it.

Just a reminder @Blackduck59 that you should be sailing under the Confederation Bridge about one hour after you sail away from Charlottetown today and depending upon the weather you should have some great views of just how wide a span it is.

+1 M&G @Destiny0315, Rob

I think a new or veteran cruiser on Carnival nowadays might find the food surpasses their expectations, where as a new or veteran cruiser on Hal may find the food doesn't always meet their expectations.

You are spot on about the difference in bar service on the Zaandam between the Ocean Bar and the Crows Nest which was also the experience back in May. I agree with what @Mary229 said that the CN and it's staff tend to be like that unless there is an event or Happy Hour going on. There is a reason the Bar Hop they have on the Z starts at the OB and ends up eventually at the CN(for the Orange Party)as the OB staff are not only good but also fun and make it worth it whether you participate or just follow it around the ship.

On the subject of rerouting ships and changed itineraries, both the Carnival Legend from Baltimore and Carnival Magic from Norfolk will not be going to Bermuda this week because of Hurricane Franklin and have already had their itineraries changed along with a $200 per stateroom OBC added to their Sail and Sign account.

Between you John and the Carnival Fleet Operations Center in Miami I feel confident that we will have good weather and safe sailing for our cruise.🙂

In 2022 they ran a $25 deposit sale, in 2021 a $99 deposit sale, and in 2019 and 2018 they ran a 50% off deposit sale for labor day week.

Here is a recent YT video of the Venezia's short cruise to Canada just last week with some good info. https://youtu.be/JA8-KrrgBBk?si=JujYjL72U0kGWyeI

Some interesting changes for the New England/Canada cruises apparently on the horizon for 2025. No Bar Harbor at all accept on the VOV cruise. Instead stops in Eastport and Rockland in Maine and a really nice addition of the French island of St. Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland on some cruises. The Volendam heads back down to Florida in late September but the Zuiderdam ends up in Boston on October 18 with nothing further listed which suggests a potential Fall cruise or two to the Caribbean from Boston again in '25.

You do realize that if you had been more forthcoming in your original post instead of leaking out more and more information as this thread continues you would have had even more support here for your cause. You obviously have the receipts with your photos and possibly more info about a continuing problem. Airing it out here though will not achieve much in getting you a better resolve of the issue.

Well nothing was bad really throughout the ship but I wouldn't want my only view of a big storm to be from a small window in a deck 1 cabin. If that was the case I might want to be in an inside and like @Jamman54 said "roll with it".😉

Just for perspective, passengers on the infamous Carnival Triumph poop cruise of 2013 which was a true raw sewage disaster after a fire left the ship stranded for 5 days at sea with no working toilets at all received a complete cruise refund and $500pp FCC.

Well we had a wrap around balcony aft cabin on the Carnival Pride years ago that was heading into the vicinity of a Tropical storm as we headed South in the Atlantic to Florida from Baltimore. It had a full overhang over the balcony so we were protected from most of the heaviest rain and wind so we did feel safe considering. Of course that was on Deck 7, but had we been a few decks lower I might have felt differently.

I also looked up reviews of the Oosterdam for this exact cruise and around it and there were complaints but about air conditioning troubles in which fans were provided by HAL to the cabins with issues and a light being out in the shuffleboard area which was replaced after they were alerted. So those were easy fixes but attended to quickly once reported to the right people.