LIVE - Zaandam Asia Explorer February 5-19

[rafinmd]

With a sea day I returned to a 5-mile morning walk. I also did laundry so combining the 2 activities extended my walk to about 7:30. The weather doesn't seem to change much, today is sunny and 82/28. The day was perfect for a leisurely breakfast on the Zaandam's aft lido deck, although I must confess I had some longings for the superb counterpart on the Prinsendam. At his midday update the Captain mentioned that we are traveling on the Continental shelf (about 25 miles from the Vietnam Peninsula), and the water depth of about 20 meters pretty well assures mild sea conditions.

 

The morning was particularly busy, starting with an interview with the engineering and facilities officers on Good Morning Zaandam, Spencer's talk on Phu My, and a tour of the Zaandam galley. The afternoon was a bit less hectic with Spencer's talk on Nha Trang (sadly for my successors, Spencer will be leaving the ship for now in Hong Kong), and a wonderful Australian Tea time. It was busy somewhat behind the scenes for the crew as well, with a fire drill running mid-morning.

 

The second formal night of the voyage had everyone looking very nice. I had a lovely dinner with people from Australia, the UK, and Ohio. The evening entertainment was the Zaandam Singers and Dancers with Southern nights. We arrive in Phu My at 6am Sunday with a 9-hour tour starting at 6:30, so I’ll retire especially early this evening.

 

As my parting shot, each cruise has some unpleasant tasks. Tonight I had to turn in my departure plans for Hong Kong. It seems much too early to be thinking about that.

 

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam

 

Roy

[RuthC]

As my parting shot, each cruise has some unpleasant tasks. Tonight I had to turn in my departure plans for Hong Kong. It seems much too early to be thinking about that.

Doncha just hate it when you feel you have barely arrived and it's time to think about leaving. :(

 

Thanks for the ongoing reports.

[KirkNC]

Wow, coconut picking monkeys, who would have guessed that. Thanks for the updates on your journey. Sounds like your open dining is turning out ok.

[kura]

Sorry to hear Spencer is leaving the ship.....we enjoyed his talks when in S America. However....we have been to most of the places on this cruise already....not on a cruise, but have spent time travelling in the countries. The most recent was 3 weeks in Vietnam 2 years ago, abd are really looking forward to another day in Saigon. I see on your itinerary you go to Da Nang which we dont. From Da Nang it is easy to get to Hoi An.....one of our favourite and most interesting towns in Asia...wish we were going there!

[erewhon]

Roy,

Am enjoying reading your reports.

 

Seems it's too difficult for some folk to obtain the currency of the country they are visiting.

[rafinmd]

Phu My has little to offer in itself, but is the gateway to Saigon, somewhat over 2 hours away. Our dock was at quite a new container port, but there was no evidence of actual container activity. We had an early morning arrival and when I went up to the lido for breakfast just after 5 we were already secured. With my tour leaving at 6:30 I had time for just over a mile before departure.

 

The tour I booked was of the CuChi tunnels in an area just past Saigon. The site is only 50 miles from the pier, but the drive was very slow and took about 2 1/2 hours. What seemed amazing to me is that I had always thought of Vietnam as a rural country and the entire route seemed to be an almost continuous line of urban sprawl.

 

When we arrived a little after 9 our first tunnel was a big one, under the highway from the parking lot to the exhibits. There were a number of displays related to the war, including a burned out tank, various booby traps, vents disguised as rocks, and replicas of rooms used for meetings, dining, cooking, hospital, and munitions and uniform making. These rooms were all originally underground but are now about shoulder height below grade with thatched roofs. At one point a young man dressed as a soldier demonstrated getting into and our of the original concealed entrances to the tunnels. At one stop we had a firing range where visitors could try their hands at either an M-16 or an AK-47. Our final stop was a small theater where a "documentary" was shown. Our HAL documentation had warned somewhat blandly that "The information is presented from a Vietnamese perspective"; our guide was more blunt, using the term "propaganda" film. I was prepared for the worst and ended up with a mixed reaction. The commentary was at least as biased as I expected, but the quality of the film clearly indicated it was produced at the time of the war and was what would be expected from a wartime film. The contrast between the welcoming attitude of the people today and what we saw in the film was quite striking.

 

We left about 11:30 for a short drive to a local restaurant, on an island on a small river. As we ate our lunch we watched a constant stream of floating vegetation flowing past us on the stream. The guide later explained that this happened with the tides here, floating one way at high tide and the opposite way approaching low tide.

 

We arrived back at the Zaandam about 3, in time for Tea and Scone in the dining room. All aboard was 4:30 and we set sail just before 5, sailing down the river past P&O Arcadia. There was no program for Protestants on this sailing, a "do-it-yourself" service was held at 5 in the Hudson Room. Tonight's dinner (prime rib) was shared with 2 ladies from San Francisco and a couple from Hamilton, Ontario. The mail in the room when I returned included information on the Mariners Brunch and On Deck for the Cure, both of which will be on our next sea day, February 14.

 

This evening's show was "The Music and Mayhem of Davie Howes". Howes sings and plays many instruments, primarily piano and trumpet but also improvised instruments like a garden hose. He performed a wide variety of music, including a spectacular set of variations on Bach's Toccata in D in the style of Oscar Peterson. I'm not familiar with Peterson but greatly enjoyed that piece and the rest of the show. He challenged the audience to nominate some objects around the ship he could adapt as musical instruments in the final variety show.

 

After living through our Vietnam war, I am finally here. My parting shot for today: Let us neither forget the past nor live in it.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Thanks, RuthC, kazu, kura, and erewhon.

 

Posted by: KirkNC

On: February 11th, 2012 02:26 PM

 

Wow, coconut picking monkeys, who would have guessed that. Thanks for the updates on your journey. Sounds like your open dining is turning out ok.

************

Kirk, while I'm living with the open dining it's still a sore point. What is really frustrating is that my request for a change never even got the courtesy of a reply. I expected better than that and my comments card will show it. I see this as a case of making lemons out of lemonade as I did tonight; I really want to try Seabourn which not only is all open dining but the MDR doesn't even open until 7:30, so I'll survive 2 weeks of this ok.

 

I returned this morning to 3-mile walks on the promenade deck, finishing about 6:30. The wind was quite brisk, and there was a lovely sunrise about 6:15. The weather hasn't changed much, it's still about 82/28, sunny, and windy. We pulled into Na Trang harbor about 8:30.

 

We never really left Nha Trang today, but the view from the sail-in was more what I expected Vietnam to look like with mountains and massive green spaces. Our path took us under the route of a cable car which we seemed to clear fairly closely. Captain Andre reported yesterday we had an arrival window where there would be no cars on the cable segment we passed under. Clearances can be deceptive but I think a passing gondola would have had at least a chance of striking one of our masts. The cable car, supposedly the world's longest over water, leads to an island used as a theme park.

 

My tour this morning was Na Trang highlights. We left the pier about 9:45, driving north along the shore, a beautiful beach which was a bit treacherous because the bottom here drops very abruptly. About 5 miles north of the ship we crossed the Chi river and stopped at the Po Nagar Cham towers, a site where several tower pagodas sit on a 30-meter hill with sweeping views of the city. We continued to Long Son Pagoda with 2 stunning Buddhas, first a massive reclining Buddha, and at the top a lovely white seated Buddha. Getting to the top is a bit of a challenge with 152 steps but worth the climb. Surrounding the top statue is a large bank of crypts.

 

We paused at a restaurant on the beach where there was an opportunity for a brief swim or a refreshing midday beverage, passing the train station and Cathedral (Na Trang, population 800,000, is about 5% Roman Catholic). Our final stop was at an embroidery shop where we saw ladies making (and of course had a chance to buy) embroidered pictures. We returned to the ship about 1:50 in time for a somewhat late lunch.

 

I took a mid-afternoon walk around the waterfront of the city. I had intended to ride the gondola but realized too late that I had left my camera on the ship, and returned to the Zaandam for afternoon tea. I passed a number of shops on the 2-mile walk, but none of real interest.

 

This evening was something of a departure from my norm. We had a local group come on presenting "Traditions of Vietnam", and they had to disembark before we left so their shows were 7 and 9PM. The Indonesian crew show was at 11. In place of the normal Lido buffet there was an on-deck barbecue, and I had an early snack of corn and grilled potatoes at the normal dinner time. I went to the Rotterdam Dining room after the 7PM local show (Veal medallions) and stayed up past my usual bedtime for the crew show. Not a typical night for me on the Zaandam.

 

Today's parting shot will be unrelated to cruising. Upsetting news eventually comes even to this side of the world. It's a shame our celebrities seem to have difficulty keeping their personal lives on track with drugs and other things claiming too many before their time. Whitney Houston, it is far too soon for you to leave.

 

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam

 

Roy

[aliaschief]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your live reports. Definitely a bucket list cruise. Thank you for sharing your cruise with all of us.

[rafinmd]

Thanks, aliaschief. I'm so glad to be able to do this before I'm too old to enjoy it with the heat. I think I've also noticed that Zaandam is definitely underrepresented in live reports.

 

I cheated a bit more than usual today on the Walk for the Cure. I usually cut my morning walk to 3 miles when I know I'll be walking 3 miles (technically 5K) in the afternoon, but today the walk was at 1:30 and Spencer's presentation on Sanya was at 2, so I did the full 5 miles in the morning and left the group with On Deck For the Cure after just a mile. It is just a bit cooler today at 77/25, and still with a brisk wind. After the late show last night I slept an extra half hour this morning and completed my 5 miles just before 8.

 

Spencer briefed us on the remaining Vietnam ports at 10AM. We visit Da Nang tomorrow (Wednesday) and Hulong Bay on Friday. The morning was capped off with my first Mariner Brunch as a 2-star at 11:30. A number of people were recognized for their extensive cruise history including a few with 900+ nights, making my 50 nights pretty puny by comparison.

 

[Question for HAL regulars: I believe there was talk of medallions, and I thought I heard the first medallion was copper for 100 days, starting the medallion program just at halfway to the 4-star level. Is this correct? If so, is that actual nights or do bonus nights count?]

 

On Deck for the Cure came at 1:30, although I left it early. There were perhaps 100 walkers (including 4 breast cancer survivors) and perhaps another hundred spectators. Sanya remains a challenging port, with apparently different conditions imposed by the authorities each visit. Spencer has not actually been allowed off the ship yet; in fact few if any crew have been allowed ashore. It promises to be an interesting visit. As the talk was ending, the Walk for the Cure was also ending with refreshments served. The walk was accompanied by pulsating music but the volume was kept to a moderate level.

 

Deborah Buchanan gave a presentation of future cruises in the Wajang Theater. Apparently, 2012 will be the last of the Alaska cruises out of Seattle, although the reason was not clear. She thought the reason itineraries are being released later than usual was the turmoil in various parts of the world including parts of Europe, resulting in delays to evaluate possible ports of call. The presentation ended just in time to enjoy tea and one of the many lovely offerings of the cupcake tea time.

 

A festive formal dinner was served in the Rotterdam Dining Room. I did see a few scattered people in less than formal wear but overall everyone looked very nice. The evening entertainment was again provided by the Zaandam Singers and Dancers with "Unforgettable".

 

As today's parting shot, I am ahead of most people sitting West of the International Dateline, so a happy Valentines Day to all. If I am not mistaken as Valentines day ends here it is just beginning in North America.

 

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam.

 

Roy

[kazu]

[Question for HAL regulars: I believe there was talk of medallions, and I thought I heard the first medallion was copper for 100 days, starting the medallion program just at halfway to the 4-star level. Is this correct? If so, is that actual nights or do bonus nights count?]

 

Roy - no the bonus nights do not count. I received my 100 day when I hit the 100 days - I had more 'mariner' days than that, but definitely they only counted the actual days at sea for the medallion - at least for us.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your very interesting reports.

 

re the medallion program, the Copper Medallions are awarded for actual days sailed.

 

I contacted the Mariner Society enquiring about the medallions after we achieved over the required 100 days sailing, with no recognition on board the ship during the cruise.

Received a very pleasant reply, and the medallions were mailed out to us by international post.

I had thought that the Mariner Society would make sure we received the medallions during our next cruise, we did not expect to have the medallions posted out to us.

[rafinmd]

Thanks, kazu and erewhon.

 

When I went out for my walk there seemed to be a fog or haze making a really dark morning although it burned off by sunrise. We picked up our pilot about 6:15 and tied up about 7. As we get further North it is starting to cool down a bit and the days are now about a half hour shorter than they were in Singapore.

 

Da Nang was a major US base during the Vietnam war and also an R&R site for our troops including the area depicted in China Beach. I chose instead to visit the Imperial City of Hue. Hue served as the capitol of Vietnam in the early 19th century. It is about 50 miles North of Da Nang, but traffic on Vietnam roads is very slow and the journey was about 2 1/2 hours each way. That only left time for 2 sightseeing stops of about an hour each.

 

The Imperial Citadel was built in 1804-1833. The scale and concept of the place is very reminiscent of Bejing's Forbidden City but unfortunately is not so well preserved. Entrance is through a succession of walls and moats, still very impressive, but many of the buildings are now only memories. The Citadel was occupied by the Viet Cong for 24 days during the Tet offensive, and the resulting fighting was devastating to the historic buildings. A lovely ceremonial palace and some long walks have either been preserved or rebuilt, the theater is dilapidated but still intact, but the residences of the King and his wives and concubines are now just outlines on the ground. Despite all that has been lost it is still an impressive site.

 

We left the Citadel for lunch at Hue's Century Riverside, a lovely buffet with a serenade by a local musical group.

 

Our second stop was the tomb of Tu Duc, built in the 1840's, Tu Duc ruled for about 35 years. He had no heirs, likely as a result of contracting Chicken Pox as a youth. His chosen successors, 3 nephews, squabbled with each other and had a reign of only 3 days. There were several succeeding Kings, but they were only figureheads, as the French consolidated control of the country following Tu Duc's death. The tomb is very plain and unimpressive but sits in the middle of gardens which were at least originally magnificent. Tu Duc loved the gardens and spent much of his summers there. The site was undamaged in the war but the hot, damp climate has taken a severe toll.

 

All aboard was 4:30, but we did not reach the ship until about 4:50. As I reached my room the Captain announced that we would be leaving soon but were still waiting for 3 of my tour's busses. We actually sailed about 5:15.

 

Tonight's headline entertainment was pianist "Count Dimas" from Transylvania. He actually also played the accordion and some homemade instruments. He played a variety of music including classical, folk, and Gershwin, but took enough liberties that much of what he played would better be described as "variations on Gershwin", etc. It was a very pleasant mix of familiar music with a new, fresh touch.

 

There will not be a lot of sleep tonight. We lose an hour as we sail to China tomorrow and we have the Filipino Crew Show at 11 (or should we say midnight?).

 

As today's parting shot I will miss today one of the HAL features I enjoyed on the Rotterdam, moving the clocks forward midday rather than overnight. I guess that's a bit tough to do when you leave 1 time zone at 5PM and enter the next just 13 hours later.

 

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam.

 

Roy

[IRL_Joanie]

I am absolutely loving your reviews/reports Roy!!

 

I just have one question for you regarding Tu Duc's burial gardens. Why has the damp/humid weather taken such a toll?? Is it the type of floweres/fauna that was planted or something else?

 

Joanie

[rafinmd]

Joainie, as I understand the explanation, some form of moss forms on the structures in the cool, rainy season, and the summer heat "burns" the moss, seriously blackening the structure. It looks almost covered in soot. Also, a lot of the stones are somewhat misplaced, probably erosion due to the rainy season.

 

Wednesday evening's crew show was wonderful but lightly attended, as the late hour combined with the lost hour were a difficult combination. I rose at 5 and completed my 3 miles at 6:15, with the pilot boarding the ship about 5:45. The weather was pleasant for the walk but a drizzle started about the time we docked and lasted for about an hour.

 

Sanya sits at the south end of Hainan Island, the largest Chinese island other than Taiwan. It is about 120 miles north to south, and sits about 15 miles off the southern coast. The cruise terminal sits on an artificial island with several futuristic towers, new and/or under construction. It is a challenging port to deal with; officials seem to make up the rules as they go along. I came out fairly well as passengers taking HAL excursions were covered for a HAL excursion enjoyed a blanket visa here, while those going on to Shanghai and Beijing needed to secure individual visas. We still had to meet with Chinese immigration officials as we left the ship.

 

My excursion was called (perhaps not quite accurately) Chinese Minority Village. The village (in the style of Colonial Williamsburg, Upper Canada Village, and other similar places) represents the culture of the Li people. The majority of Chinese people are ethnically Hans, but the Li people are the majority of the 1.3 million residents of Hainan Island. The complex sits about an hour North of Sanya.

 

We arrived about 10 and started with a cultural show on a multi-level stage. The pageant started with a demonstration of fire building using a bow drill for friction, and had scenes of weaving, rice processing, singing and dancing, and a bamboo pole dance reminiscent of the pole dance from the Filipino crew show. While the dances are similar, the legends surrounding them are very different. The Filipino version is that the dance reflects the setting of traps for a pest, while in the Li version it reflects collection of firewood.

 

When the show ended we were given a tour of the "village" where we saw the skill of the Li boys in climbing trees, viewed and sampled Li weaving, family life, and cooking and viewed a number of Li displays and artifacts. We left the village about noon and returned to Sanya for lunch at a beachfront hotel. Our final stop was at a pearl shop where we saw pearls extracted from an oyster and of course had a chance to ship. The shopping was of no interest to me, but we were right across the ship with a perfect opportunity to photograph the ship with the new towers in the background, and at one time a colorful Chinese junk passing in front of the ship.

 

We returned to the dock about 3, in time for afternoon tea. Scheduled departure was at 4, and the Captain then announced everything was ready except that the officials had to get permission from Beijing to allow the ship to leave. We sailed soon afterwards, passing the Costa Classica which had been waiting in the harbor to occupy our berth.

 

I almost felt like I was back on Cunard as we had our final formal night on a port day, with the farewell dinner. Everyone looked wonderful as we dined and went on to an encore performance by Annie Francis and finally a desert extravaganza in the lido.

 

We are playing musical clocks as we lost an hour last night, get it back tonight, and will probably lose it again tomorrow as we sail for out destination of Hong Kong. What time is it is now getting a bit confusing.

 

 

As today's parting shot it has been noted that the Zaandam is far from a new ship. That is true, but that hasn't stopped it from sailing to brand new ports. The aft stairwell is sporting several plaques from 2012 maiden ports of call. The ones in the photo are for Singapore, Darwin, and Sanya.

 

 

http://zaandamasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/plaques.jpg

 

 

I will also mention that the Zaandam has been for me my newest HAL ship. My record:

 

Rotterdam 5, sailed in 1997 at 38 years

Prinsendam, sailed in 2011 at 23 years

Rotterdam 6, sailed in 2011 at 14 years

Zaandam, sailed in 2012 at 12 years

Zaandam, sailed in 2002 at 2 years.

 

Roy

[RuthC]

I almost felt like I was back on Cunard as we had our final formal night on a port day, with the farewell dinner. Everyone looked wonderful as we dined and went on to an encore performance by Annie Francis and finally a desert extravaganza in the lido.

I'd pass on the dessert extravaganza to watch Annie Francis perform. She puts on an excellent show.

 

Thank you for the detailed description of your Sanya stop. This is an area of the world I know little about. There are so few reports from here that there's no opportunity to learn much from posters.

Your excursion sounds like something I would want to take, too.

[rafinmd]

Thank you RuthC.

 

I have been pondering a mystery the last couple of days. We have not received the usual Explorer the last 2 days. What has been delivered was titled "Daily Program" and the format was not particularly to my liking:

 

http://zaandamasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/explorer17.pdf

 

At dinner the change had also gotten unfavorable reviews. The mystery was finally cleared up when Michael explained before the show tonight. A container full of blank stock for the Explorer did not make it to the ship in Singapore. It appears these programs were printed on leftover obsolete stock, perhaps from a recent Alaska season.

 

It is now evident that we are no longer hugging the Equator. When I started my walk this morning I did only 1 lap before returning to my room for a light jacket which I much preferred to having only indoor air conditioning to the heat of the last w weeks. We had a high today of 62/17 with some fog and an occasional light drizzle but it was overall a very pleasant day.

 

Halong Bay literally means "descending dragon bay. The bay is home to lovely limestone islands with caves and is supposed to be a beautiful sailin, but unfortunately it was quite dark for both our arrival and departure. The bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 

This is our 4th port call in Vietnam. The first 3 were all in the former South Vietnam, while Halong Bay was part of North Vietnam, about 270 miles North of the 17th parallel. The port is about 3 1/2 hours South of Hanoi, and 2 1/2 hours North of Haiphong. There were 3 tour options today, including an 11-hour visit to Hanoi and a 3 1/2 hour bay cruise with visits to Thien Cung Cave. I chose the road less taken, the 7-hour Red River Delta tour which might more accurately be described as a Haiphong tour. On the tour we made 3 main stops, first at a local home where we tasted betel nuts, tea, and local fruits, then at 2 pagodas, both of which were quite busy with prayer sessions and had an extensive selection of sculptures At one there was a pool with a number of turtles lounging on some logs. In our Haiphong travels we twice passed a pair of lovely golden dragons. There was also a buffet lunch at the "Harborview Hotel" in Haiphong. The lunch was wonderful but the only evidence I saw of the harbor was the tops of a few cranes about 2 blocks away. Maybe there was a view from the upper floors but none that I saw. We made a brief stop at a shop associated with pearl cultivation. Altogether, it was not one of the better tours, and the reports at dinner indicate that the Halong Bay cruise would have been a much better alternative as it got unanimous raves.

 

It was close to 5 when we returned to the ship, and there was just time to enjoy a cup of coffee in the lido before heading down to the dining room. Tonight was the final performance of the current Zaandam Singers and Dancers as they will be going on leave in Singapore. Since the ship will be converting to the Showroom at Sea format in the next few months, the future of these performers may be in some doubt. Their performance tonight was "On the Air", a program of much of the music I heard on the radio in my youth. As expected, we lose another hour overnight as we return to Hong Kong time.

 

As today's parting shot, Vietnam for me is pretty much just another country, but I saw a bit today of how poignant an experience it has been for some of my shipmates. Even simple sights such as an urn of cool water brought back vivid memories of times here when all they had normally was 90-degree water out of their canteens and how refreshed they would have been by a drink of cool water. To those who have been here before, thank you for your service.

 

Roy

[IRL_Joanie]

Roy are the numbers following the name of the ship the age when you cruised them or something else?? I ask because your age (if that's what it is jumps around more than my daughter does:D)

 

Rotterdam 5, sailed in 1997 at 38 years

Prinsendam, sailed in 2011 at 23 years

Rotterdam 6, sailed in 2011 at 14 years

Zaandam, sailed in 2012 at 12 years

Zaandam, sailed in 2002 at 2 years.

Joanie

[ScottishMaid]

"at 2 years" means the ship was 2 years old in 2002, etc. so the years are how old the ship was when he sailed in it.

[IRL_Joanie]

"at 2 years" means the ship was 2 years old in 2002, etc. so the years are how old the ship was when he sailed in it.

 

Thank you!! That makes so much sense to me now:o

 

I just finished Roys post for today and would like to add My Thanks to all who served and/or are serving for my freedom!!

 

Joanie

[cccole]

Thank you so much for taking the time to let us join you on this cruise. Vietnam is a country that I don't think we will ever visit and I have read your posts with much interest and appreciation.

 

Did passengers get upset when the heading on their daily newsletter was different? It seems like a very minor thing to be worried about on a wonderful cruise.

 

I also want to say that I love your "parting shots." Fabulous!!

 

Thank you, Cherie

[rafinmd]

Thanks, Cherie, Joanie, and Scottish Maid. Unfortunately I am now into packing mode and will be leaving the Zaandam in about 12 hours but have 3 days left in Hong Kong. I don't think people were really upset about the change but there were some grumbles of "is this more cutbacks".

 

The day was quite blustery with 50mph winds across the deck, and most of the day was quite foggy. Around 10AM we passed through a strait between the North end of Hainan Island and the Chinese mainland less than 15 miles wide, and we could not see either shore through the fog. Much of the day was spent preparing for disembarkation with Michael's talk at 10, with a farewell from a large cross section of crew. In his final daily update Captain Andre (he is off on vacation once we arrive in Hong Kong) reported temperatures of 66/16, slightly warmer in Hong Kong on Sunday. My afternoon started with a presentation in the Wajung theater on "Custodianship of the Sea". I tried my hand at team trivia at 3 (we didn't do very well), followed by Indonesian tea and Spencer's presentation on Hong Kong at 4:30. I am well situated as my hotel is only 500 yards from the ship. The Master Chef's dinner with the parade of chefs and other dining staff in the Rotterdam Dining room came and went all too quickly.

 

The final show was an encore variety by Count Dimas and Davie Howe. As promised, Howe improvised instruments from a shower head, vacuum cleaner, and Lido chair. The show closed with a duet with Howe on trumpet/piano and Dimas on the accordion, at times joined by the HAL Cats saxophone player, all dressed in Vietnamese hats. Along with the show came some unwelcome news that Hong Kong immigration was taking extra time and we will not get our passports back until morning.

 

Today's parting shot comes as a paraphrase of Michael's closing words at the disembarkation talk. We hail from 30 nations, speaking 20 languages, we live and work together in peace and harmony in times of prejudice and strife, and strive to set an example of how to work together. May it always be so.

 

This post comes to you live from the Zaandam

Roy

[kura]

Many thanks for your daily posts....I have enjoyed them and helped with the waiting! We leave in 10 days for Hong Kong! Will be staying there for 3 days before we board.

[rafinmd]

Thank you Kura.

 

We arrived in Hong Kong at 6:20. When I rose this morning a new Explorer had been placed under my door. The new Captain will be Jan Smit, and the new travel guide will be Wallis. I think there will be a Protestant Chaplain for this leg as a minister is named for an interdenominal service at the same time as Mass. I had a rough final night as my smoke alarm malfunctioned, and it was a while before I realized it wasn't connected to a shipwide system and I would have to take action to get it stopped.

 

There are still a few post cruise days in Hong Kong, but this is regrettably the final post that will be live from the Zaandam.

 

Roy

[ScottishMaid]

Thanks for all the very interesting posts. How many of the passengers are staying on for the next 14 days to Shanghai and Beijing?

[erewhon]

I have really enjoyed travelling along with you on this cruise.

 

May I ask which Hotel you are staying at, that is so close to the ship?

 

Thank you for posting live from the Zaandam.