LIVE - Zaandam Asia Explorer February 5-19

[jonja]

Many thanks Roy for all your news and information we have so enjoyed following you. One thing perhaps you could tell us, did you use the ship to change up your money for the different ports? We are a little unsure whether to bring some with us. Hope you have a safe trip home.

[rafinmd]

I'll have some more comments on today later, but first I'll be going out to the 8PM light show (it's 7:25pm in Hong Kong right now), but I did want to answer a couple of questions.

 

I'm in the Langham hotel, and it is a bit further than I expected from the map. The door is (well now was) actually about a quarter mile from the Zaandam Crow's nest and about a 15-minute walk from luggage pickup which was by the far aft end of the ship. The actual closest hotel I think is the Marco Polo, which is about 20 steps from the terminal enterance.

 

I did several things about money, including not getting it in China and Cambodia where I was there only 1 day on HAL excursions. I did buy Thai bahts on the ship. THe deal didn't seem great there, and I held off in Vietnam. I found it more difficult there to find exchange places and missed it in a couple of ports. In DaNang I asked for Dong in exchange for a purchase at a hotel but couldn't make myself understood and found a kiosk on the pier at the next port. If on an excursion you can probably get by without local currency if you have to but then should not expect to be able to spend anything. Even though on excursions, I prefer to have it if at all possible.

 

Roy

[jonja]

Thank you again Roy for your advice on currency exchange, we will certainly bear it in mind. Hoping you have a good time in Hong Kong ( we will be following you ). Wanted to wish you all the best for your treatment, (will be thinking of you).

Jan

[rafinmd]

Thank you, Jan.

 

We pulled into Hong Kong’s Ocean Terminal at 6:20. Passport return had been promised for 6:30am in the midship elevator landing. On my way down from the Lido I noticed that several of the passport return desks were unstaffed but mine was in full operation and I had my passport back by 6:35. Other than the delay getting passports back, disembarkation waa as easy as I’ve ever seen it. I had been given an estimate of 8:45 and was actually of the ship at 8:50. Ocean Terminal is actually part of a mall, and is quite integrated into the mall. We went through public areas of the mall with staff and signs directing us to baggage claim. Surprisingly, at no point in the process did we ever encounter any border authorities. We simply picked up our bags and walked off. The one negative was that the “information” staff at the pier was totally useless. I simply picked up my bags and followed other independent travelers back into the mall and out to the entrance. At the mall entrance I asked a security guard for directions to the Langham; he took me 20 steps to the Marco Polo where the doorman gave me directions for the 2-block walk. I arrived at the hotel about 9:15, the concierge took my bags, and I was told to return about 12. After exploring the Ocean Terminal mall and Star Ferry areas for a while I returned to the hotel. The room is quite nice. It has “sort of” an ocean view, a sliver of harbor which covers about 2 degrees of my field of vision when I stand in the right place. I went down first to the mall about 4:30 to watch the Zaandam back away from the terminal and then by the waterfront near the concert hall to watch it disappear towards the ocean.

 

Each night Hong Kong has an 8PM light show. It is very nice but the city is very colorful at night routinely and I thought the dancing colors were lovely but not a real game changer. By evening the air had become a bit chilly in Hong Kong.

 

Today’s parting shot is a Bon Voyage to the 400 or so guests continuing on the Zaandam to Beijing, Shanghai, and Korea, to the 1000 or so new guests, and especially the new occupants of 3341.

 

Roy

[erewhon]

Roy,

Thank you for responding to my query.

Re the Ocean Terminal Mall, is there still a coffee shop at the far end of the building, with a good view of the Harbour?

[rafinmd]

Roy,

Thank you for responding to my query.

Re the Ocean Terminal Mall, is there still a coffee shop at the far end of the building, with a good view of the Harbour?

 

Are you referring to the Starbucks inside a store on level 3 overlooking the luggage claim area. That's still there. There are a number of other coffee shops but they don't have much of a view.

 

Roy

[JCruisepal]

Thanks Roy for all the updates has been interesting to read. I am going on the same cruise on 18 March so good to have had a little insight to what to expect.

 

One thing what was the weather like in Halong Bay and Hong Kong - I think you said it was a little cooler than other places. Would we just need a light jacket or jumper?

 

Also what did you think of the light show in Hong Kong and where did you watch it from?

 

Any other interesting sights to look out for in Hong Kong.

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your few days on hols left. Safe trip home

Thanks

Jane

[erewhon]

Are you referring to the Starbucks inside a store on level 3 overlooking the luggage claim area. That's still there. There are a number of other coffee shops but they don't have much of a view.

 

Roy

 

Yes, that will be the one, there were tables alongside the windows.

Thank you.

[rafinmd]

Thanks Roy for all the updates has been interesting to read. I am going on the same cruise on 18 March so good to have had a little insight to what to expect.

 

One thing what was the weather like in Halong Bay and Hong Kong - I think you said it was a little cooler than other places. Would we just need a light jacket or jumper?

 

Also what did you think of the light show in Hong Kong and where did you watch it from?

 

Any other interesting sights to look out for in Hong Kong.

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your few days on hols left. Safe trip home

Thanks

Jane

 

I was fine with a light jacket and it should be warmer by the time you get there. If you're really sensitive to cold you might want more but I don't think so. I watched the light show from near the concert hall. If you (or anyone else booked for the spring) would like advance copies of the port information sheets HAL distributes, send me an email to royaferguson at verizon dot net. They have a copyright notice so I hesitate to post them but for people entitled to get them I see no problem with an advanced copy.

 

I think the hectic pace of the cruise was a bit more than I realized as I have been sleeping late In Hong Kong. I also haven’t really ventured far from the hotel, not quite yet working up the courage to try the transit system.

 

I did walk around the waterfront quite a bit and have am finally starting to get a bit familiar with my local area. One challenge in Hong Kong is that many of the streets are very busy and the only way to cross several arteries is through an extensive series of tunnels. I’ve often found myself going down just to get across a street and finally emerging with no idea where I am.

 

I did visit the space museum. It is very nice with a lot of models and places for mostly kids but sometimes adults to try a few things hands on. It was definitely overshadowed by my visit to Kennedy Space Center at Christmas but still a very nice place. The concert hall next door is lovely but unfortunately doesn’t seem to have anything on during my stay.

 

The weather has been pleasant, just a bit cool to be without a jacket but I usually unzipped my light jacket during the day. In the evening for the light show I add a light sweater and find the wind a bit cool but not uncomfortable. According to the sheet placed on my bed at turndown the Tuesday forcast is 72/22 with rain.

 

As today’s parting shot, I did go to the light show again. As a subscriber to the Baltimore Symphony they stress audience silence using the analogy of a painting with “silence” being the “canvas”.

While the light show is lovely, I think part of the reason I am less impressed is that the usual nighttime situation in Hong Kong is quite colorful and beautiful. If the light show were presented on a “canvas” of darkness, it would be truly astounding.

 

This post comes to you live from the Langham in Hong Kong. Zaandam should be well on the way to China by now.

 

Roy

[kura]

Many thanks for your offer of these sheets Roy....I have sent you an email.

[rafinmd]

I just submitted the review. I'll post a link to the published review when it comes out. I hope I've caught all the real misspellings, I know I corrected a few when I posted from word to the review entry form so I hope to have caught them again.

 

 

Background:I consider myself an experienced cruiser, and have sailed most of the world. While my favorite line is Crystal, I like to cruise more than I can afford with them and have also sailed with Windstar, Silversea, RCI, Cunard, and HAL.

 

Hotel Info:

 

Pre-cruise I booked one of the hotels HAL uses in Singapore, the Fairmont, but booked it independently at a significantly lower price. It was a very nice hotel in a great location. One tip here: The Fairmont’s internet access is quite pricy, but I joined their frequent stay group and on checking out found it is free for their members.

 

Post-cruise:In Hong Kong, I stayed post cruise at the Langham. It’s a very nice hotel just 2 blocks from Ocean Terminal, and I would gladly recommend it (although others may be just as good).

 

Ship: The Zaandam is one of HAL’s 4 R-Class ships. Roughly 60,000 tons and 1,400 passengers it is a nice size. Built in 2000 it is actually the near the middle of the age range of their ships. I thought it was mechanically in excellent condition but did have some cosmetic issues which detracted somewhat from the feel of the ship. The most significant one was carpeting near the elevator landings which appeared to have suffered from unequal application of cleaning products and had large discolored sections.

 

Activities: To me this is HAL’s biggest weakness. They tend to cater to sophisticated travelers and other lines like Cunard offer extensive enrichment programs with a variety of speakers. HAL’s program is are arranged around 4 areas (World,Food,Technology,and Wellbeing) Wellbeing is typically handled by the fitness center and is usually considered in addition to the activities. Technology is a bit too closely tied to their exclusive relationship with Microsoft and for me lacks depth. I am not really big on food as a topic. The World area had mostly offerings from the Travel Guide, Spencer Brown. Brown was excellent and unbiased but dealt mostly with what to see and do and did not go deeply into the history and background of the area.

 

Service: Superb. Many staff I had previously encountered only briefly addressed me by name and were always ready to go the extra mile to help. Personal but unobtrusive.

 

Port & Shore Excursions: One of the challenges of this area is that many of the key cities (Bangkok, Saigon, Hanoi) are quite distant from their nearest ports, making shore tours challenging and tiring. Excursions were generally pretty well done given the circumstances. They might better be seen by land, but independent travel in this region is a challenge I wouldn’t tackle.

 

Summary: A wonderful cruise to an unforgettable part of the world

 

 

Travel To Port of Embarkation: While not staying in the hotel through HAL, their hospitality desk did sell me a transfer at a reasonable price. The transfer was smooth, although embarkation was slow. I think the problem was an immigration delay in getting guests disembarked from the previous cruise.

 

Stateroom: My oceanview stateromm on the Lower Promenade (outdoor walking) deck was comfortable and well laid out. This class ship provides fridges only on verandah cabins but the ice bucket was kept filled (Fridges are available for rent). There was a bath tub but it was quite smal. The cabin temperature was always comfortable.

 

Dining: One of the dining rooms’s levels was for traditional dining with early and late fixed seatings, while the other was “anytime”. I was unable to get my request for traditional dining, and ended up in the anytime despite my wishes. I missed having the opportunity to get familiar with my waiters, but was always promptly seated when I arrived. The meals wouldn’t be called gourmet but were more than satisfactory. The selection and quality of food in the Lido restaurant were generally quite good. I did not use the specialty restaurants on this voyage.

 

Children's Clubs: There were only a small smattering of youth on this voyage. I seldom saw them while at sea, and have to assume they were occupied and engaged with the activities for them.

 

Entertainment: The Zaandam singers and dancers performed 4 excellent shows. Most of the other nights we had headline acts (singer, instrumentalist, and so on). They ranged from good to excellent. Of the 4 bars, one had a latin dance band, one a classical string group, a third alternated between guitar (early) and piano (after 9PM), and finally the Crows Nest with a band or DJ.

 

Disembarkation: Hong Kong authorities came on board by the last sea day and processed immigration in the background. There was a delay in their processing and we did not get our passports back until the final morning but from then everything went very smoothly and on schedule. There were no border formalities the final morning. I walked off the ship at 8:50, walked away from the terminal with my luggage, and was at my hotel at 9:10.

 

Roy

[kazu]

Thanks Roy for the review as well as your excellent blog:) So nice of you to take us along with you:D

[rafinmd]

Thanks Jacqui

 

I slept late again until almost 7:30, but did get out and about a bit. The Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island is free to seniors and is a nice ride. Once on that side of the harbor one of the nice things to do was ride the tram up to a peak of Hong Kong Island. It is not exactly a trivial walk to the base as the bottom station is a level of 28 meters, but the real climb comes with electrical power as we continue on up to 398 meters. The view from the top is quite stunning, looking down of the roofs of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers. The “peak” is not quite true as it is one of several peaks with the tallest being probably almost another hundred meters. The climb takes about 6 minutes. There was also quite a wind at the top. After exploring the summit, I returned to sea level and returned to Kowloon on the MTR Subway. That was probably not a good move as Kowloon is quite large and the subway maps are in schematic form only, not showing the relationship of the stations to landmarks. When I emerged from the subway I was almost a mile from the hotel and the directions were confusing. I finally spotted the Star Pices, which has been in Hong Kong almost since the Zaandam’s arrival, and used that as a directional guide. My return to the Langham took me through Kowloon Park a very nice park but a relatively small part of it is open space. Much of it is manicured gardens which we can look at but not enter, and another large part is athletic buildings and courts. Both the Kowloon station and the one near the South ferry terminal are sites for the airport express train. This train has a unique feature of airline checkin counters at the station where bags can be checked up to 24 hours in advance. I considered that attractive possibility but instead have booked an airport shuttle from the hotel which will take me directly to the airport.

 

The rain that had been mentioned in yesterday’s turndown card proved somewhat exaggerated. There were a few sprinkles during the day but something a bit heavier in the early evening. I had considered taking the ferry across to watch the light show from the other shore but did not do so. The weather was not bad just before 8 so I watched from near the Star Ferry terminal. There were some interesting lights on Ocean Terminal, first with white lights lighting in sequence down the pier, and later a gradual shifting of hues over it’s length.

 

Parting shot:My first visit to Hong Kong is ending. It has been a vibrant wonderful place but frankly not one that I have a burning desire to revisit. I had concerns when Hong Kong left British hands, but at least for now those fears are at rest.

 

Roy

[Crusing Bob]

Too late now for my comment because you will have already left HK. For those who like to get a professional massage, HK has many establishments for a relaxing one. They do it differently by using their feet from the traditional way aboard ship. The one thing that one has to look out for in HK is being approached by hookers when walking about. I don't recall any specific problems with pick pockets like in many parts of the world. HK like Singapore have changed drastically from my R&R days in the Vietnam Conflict and I must say I preferred the old before the crowded and modernized of today. Much more charm and of course everything was very inexpensive then but that is 45 years ago.

[rafinmd]

i am currently at the gate at 925 hong kong time. boarding is 1015 in light fog. so far so good. excuse the punctuation, i can't get a lot of things to work from this airport kiosk

 

roy

[cccole]

Thank you again for your daily posts. We have not visited Hong Kong since 1998 and remember flying in past high rise apartment buildings with laundry close enough to snag. So much has changed.

 

I think Hong Kong is a beautiful city at night, with fabulous restaurants, and...the Stanley Market and night markets.

 

I am wishing you good flights home and will be interested to see if you would do this itinerary again.

 

Thank you soooooooo much. I wish I had a parting shot, but I don't. Cherie

[erewhon]

Roy,

 

Again thank you for all your reports.

Wishing you safe travelling.

[jonja]

Many thanks again for all your posts Roy, bon voyage.

Jan

[rafinmd]

Thanks, all.

 

I had set a wakeup call for 5am and felt adequately rested on getting out of bed. A quick morning walk around town found generally pleasant temperatures of around 16/60 with a bit of fog that approached a drizzle but too light to interfere with walking.

 

The airport shuttle arrived at 7:35. It was a very nice coach with leatherette seats, 2 on the right and 1 on the left. After a 40 minute ride checkin at the airport was pretty easy, and all the formalities were concluded about 8:50. The airport is large and modern, with our gates accessed by an underground rail shuttle. Boarding of my 747 began about 10:30 for our 11:00 departure, quite close to schedule.

 

I'm in premium economy, and the flight is not heavily booked. It's 3-4-3 seating, I have an inner aisle seat with both of the seats to my right open, and about 8 inches free space in front of my knees as I sit upright. As I type now we are passing over the strait between Seoul and Osaka, having passed well East of Shanghai and the Zaandam. There's been some chop in the air, and out current route is considerably to the east of what was originally planned,

 

Lunch was a choice of chicken/rice or beef/mashed potatoes, a world above any domestic airline fare, but a big step down even from the Zaandam Lido. Guess it's back to reality. The routing map shows us proceeding pretty much along the East coast of Siberia and then roughly over Anchorage on our way to Chicago,

 

Today’s parting shot relates to the world of air travel, but to a lesser extent also sea travel. It’s been 520 years since Columbus’ famous voyage, and yet we still have not fully accepted the idea as a ball. You may remember my trip to Singapore took me through Toronto and Tokyo, and an almost universal (including me) was “how crazy is it to go way up to Toronto on the way to Singapore. I started to get some second thoughts as our route took us over the very northern tip of North America, and later I did some playing with my GPS. Great Circle routes tend to be accepted, including their use on long voyages such as direct Atlantic crossings, but they usually are not related to specific points on the ground. When I looked at the numbers for my flights, my return through Chicago was 444 miles longer than it would have been to fly directly to Baltimore. The increased distance in going through Tokyo to Singapore was 265 miles. The added distance to my route for going through Toronto: exactly 2 miles. Who would have believed that?

 

Roy

[RuthC]

How fortunate to get empty seats and legroom! Way to go! And decent food, too.

I was amazed last year to cross 12 time zones, on a 19-hour non-stop flight, and come out of it with no jet lag the next day. Maybe you can do as well? Hope so.

[rafinmd]

I'll respond to questions and have followup comments in a day or two, but for now I'm ready to just crash.

 

While it was a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago, we passed the international dateline enroute and I arrived pretty much the same date and time as I started. Immigration was very quick as part of the benefits of the NEXUS card (Global Entry), but there was still at least a 20-minute delay getting my luggage to check through so the benefit was a bit moot (but a great help to those making quick trips with just carry-on luggage).

 

With a long layover in Chicago, I rode the subway into the city for an hour or so. While I was exhausted I found getting out and about revived my spirits somewhat, although it turned out to be only temporary as I became quite drowsy on the ride back to the airport.

 

The final flight was a little early at both ends, arriving at BWI a little after 8:30, and at my doorstep about 9:50, about 28 hours after leaving the Langham.

 

My final parting shot concerns the Global Entry system. It is a very nice program but I found the pricing a bit strange. My NEXUS card costs $50 and includes full access to Global Entry as well as easier access to Canada. The Global Entry fee by itself without the benefits of NEXUS is double that at $100. Something doesn’t seem to add up.

 

Roy

[erewhon]

Good to know that you are safely home.

 

Hope you manage to get many hours of sleep to recover from the flights.

 

Thank you again for the reports of your cruise.

[rafinmd]

I want to touch on my summary of the itinerary and the Zaandam and my future plans.

 

How fortunate to get empty seats and legroom! Way to go! And decent food, too.

I was amazed last year to cross 12 time zones, on a 19-hour non-stop flight, and come out of it with no jet lag the next day. Maybe you can do as well? Hope so.

 

RuthC, you’re a better flier than I am. The one thing that was a positive on my flights was both times I reached my destination near bed time. What I think throws me off most is arriving after a long flight and having to face a day of either staying up or trying to sleep through the day. That is really the worst; what I went through this time was almost but not quite as bad.

 

I am wishing you good flights home and will be interested to see if you would do this itinerary again.

 

Thank you soooooooo much. I wish I had a parting shot, but I don't. Cherie

 

Thanks, Cherie, but I’ll have to tread very carefully on your question. There are places I really have no desire to visit, such as a lot of Caribbean ports. There are some, as was the case with my summer journey on the Prinsendam, where I was actually on my second visit to Iceland with a third scheduled and would love to go to the Scandanavian coast again anytime. My account likely reflected this but I looked at this as quite literally a “once in a lifetime” trip. The ports visited on the Zaandam are some I am thrilled to have had a chance to visit but that visit has fully satisfied my desire to go there. A true once in a lifetime experience. I was particularly lucky that the 3 special ports involved have been embarkation/disembarkation ports (Bangkok on Queen Victoria, Singapore and Hong Kong on the Zaandam), so I got a lot of time at each of those key cities. I have only one regret. When the Eastern Orient Express left me hanging, I wish I had pursued leaving at my original time and if necessary going on Bangkok-Angkor Wat-Singapore rather than pushing back my departure from home (well that, plus the Crystal Serenity is just arriving in Singapore today and my adventure is now over rather than just starting).

 

I enjoyed the Zaandam but some things have not changed. My favorite cruise line hands down is still Crystal, and my favorite non-Crystal ship, hands down, is still the Prinsendam. Neither of those has changed. My recent HAL experience is quite limited so ranking the ships I have sailed is fairly easy. I think the most important factor in the shipboard experience so my rating of ships will be fairly close to my rating of the crew. This is a general idea of how I see crews of ships I have sailed recently:

 

Crystal: 10

Prinsendam 9.8

Wind Surf:9.5

Zaandam:9

Cunard: about 7.5-8.5

Rotterdam: About 8

RCI: About 5

Silversea (ouch): About 2

 

While I have seen better crews than the Zaandam’s they are few and far between. I was particularly impressed that crew members who had no reason to remember my name did greet me by name, possibly stewards who escorted me to my table in the dining room and passed me days later in the Lido. Astounding. The cosmetic rough spots on the Zaandam were a bit of a distraction but were more than offset by the general design of the ship. After the Rotterdam’s retreat, I really liked the aft lido deck on the Zaandam and was pleased by the absence of Lanaii cabins. The cabin I was in would have been one of the Lanaii’s on the Rotterdam and I almost certainly would not have gotten the nice upsell if I’d been on that ship.

 

I’ll add a bit about my future prospects with HAL. It looks like my next return to HAL will be postponed. My highest priority on HAL has been the Amazon on the Prinsendam, which she typically does twice a year in November and February and my preference is the November round trip from Ft. Lauderdale. Since I’ll be on my way through the Panama Canal on the Symphony this November I would like to do it in November 2013. When I was on the Prinsendam the schedule had not been released that far out (actually still hasn’t) so I booked the February 2013 segment from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale. When I spoke with Deborah Buchanan and she looked on her computer she seemed convinced that the Elegant Explorer will go on to that itinerary when she completes her Transatlantic on November 26. If so, I expect to divert to that voyage.

 

I also have a bit of an opening in my travel schedule and was considering either the Maasdam Montreal-Boston or Veendam Bermuda or possibly the Enchantment of the Seas for May or July. It turns out the Enchantment had some engine trouble and missed ports which probably softened bookings for the near future and a May cruise to Bermuda and New England dropped about 40% while I was in Asia. Shouldn’t be a big surprise I booked that cruise. Since the November Amazon voyage is not a Grand, I purchased an FCD to book that, and a second one in case there was something before that I wanted to book. I also just checked my record today and am now 6 days away from 3-star. I may not get back to HAL until next November and will likely board Prinsendam as a 2-star but will use those FCD’s sometime anyway.

 

I don;t think of this as a regular update and this is not a true parting shot but 2 of my best friends on Cruise Critic are Barb and Dan (Love Cruises). They are primarily HAL cruisers but we have sailed together twice on Blount Small Ship Adventures. This trip marks the first time we have even been on HAL ships at the same time (they are currently on a 30 day voyage on the Rotterdam). Barb and Dan, enjoy the time you have left on the Rotterdam.

 

Roy

[RuthC]

RuthC, you’re a better flier than I am. The one thing that was a positive on my flights was both times I reached my destination near bed time.

I don't want it to sound better than it was! I had been up 24 hours straight when I arrived at my hotel at 6:30 PM. I had a light supper, then slept for 12 hours. I had also taken two good naps on the flight.

Normally, it takes a while to adjust from a long flight---especially east-bound.

 

Glad to see you're awake! And plannning more cruises.

[rafinmd]

Thanks RuthC.

 

I've gotten the email back from CruiseCritic that my review has been published:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=98026

 

Roy