MS Veendam August 17-24 Historic Coasts

[JamesEM]

Have a great cruise, looing forward to your reports.

[rafinmd]

Roy, have a great cruise and I hope your Captain is Pieter Bos. Please give your impressions of the Veendam.

 

Thank you erewhon, James, Lisa, and Father. I hope so too, as I just discovered Captain Bos was my first HAL Captain. I wonder if I'll recognize his voice on the PA. I'm also wondering about tomorrow. I have no priority in tendering but am hoping to get ashore in time for the Congregational Church in Bar Harbor. It will be a bit of a liturgical experiment for me. I wonder if the Priest will be doing a nondenominational service tomorrow. If so I don't want to miss it. It's a wonderful service they do in a great ecumenical spirit and I want to support it if offered.

 

It's another picture perfect morning in Boston.

 

Roy

[sail7seas]

Both Maasdam and Veendam have a gorgeous day for boarding.

 

Sail safely all who board today. :)

 

Fair Winds and a Following Sea......

[sedbandmom]

Roy,

Looking forward to meeting you tonight in The Mix. We get picked up in 30 minutes for our ride to the port.

Sandy and Wayne

[innlady1]

Both Maasdam and Veendam have a gorgeous day for boarding.

 

Sail safely all who board today. :)

 

Fair Winds and a Following Sea......

 

You're not boarding the Veendam today, Sail? I remember you posted a while back that you booked this cruise with friends.

[innlady1]

Enjoy the cruise, Roy. It is a picture perfect day today in the Boston area...71 degrees here on the South Shore.

[rafinmd]

It sure is a perfect day. I've had my quickest modern checkin ever despite what I thought were some pretty poorly trained port staff. Neither the security guard nor the checkin clerk recognized my NEXUS card. It's been accepted without issue in Florida twice; you'd think this is close enough to Canada that the authorities should have no trouble with it.

 

Boarding has not started yet, I'm in group 4.

 

Boarding began about 11:30, they just announced group 3.

 

Roy

[innlady1]

I wanted to come in today to see you off...and also Maasdam...but Fred and I are both down with some sort of summer bug. :(

It's only 19 miles...but 19 miles too far when one doesn't feel 100%!

Bon Voyage, Roy.....

[Typhoon1]

Looking forward to your reports. Have a great cruise.

[rafinmd]

Just back from Mariners luncheon and already I'm getting feelings of old home week.

 

The Captain is in fact Pieter Bos, my very first HAL Captain. I can't really say I remember a lot about him but I have sailed with him before. It will be interesting to see if I remember his voice when he comes on.

 

Linda Miniken really gets around. She was on my first Prinsendam Cruise, and will be again on my Amazon Explorer. This makes her CD for 3 of my 5 modern day HAL cruisers. In between the Veendam now and Prinsendam in November she also has a stint on the Statendam.

 

RuthC, I know nothing about him but Eric is the present artist in the piano bar. He doesn't start until 10:30 so I likely won't see him tonight.

 

Using the terminal's free wifi, I have posted the first "On Location" to http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com/programs/veendam-on-location/

 

I think we lucked out on the terminal. We are docked at the end of the terminal closest to downtown Boston, with the Maasdam behind us. I used their berth a couple years ago with the Crystal Symphony, and it seemed to be nothing but a dingy unpainted warehouse with a bare concrete floor. It was ok for us as all we did was walk through it, but I would not want to go through checkin and wait for boarding there.

 

This post comes to you live from the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal under sunny Boston skies.

 

Roy

[RuthC]

Glad you're aboard, and so far---so good.

RuthC, I know nothing about him but Eric is the present artist in the piano bar. He doesn't start until 10:30 so I likely won't see him tonight.

Thanks for mentioning the piano player. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to stop in this week, and get an idea how he is. And then post your findings! :D

He starts later tonight because he's part of the opening show, and that should be schedule for 9:30 (I didn't open the link to the schedule).

 

Beautiful day for a sail-away! Lucky you.

[mamaofami]

Wish we had a sail away thread to see you off.

[Vict0riann]

Wish we had a sail away thread to see you off.

 

Too bad! It worked from New York last time, didn't it? No webcams in Boston?

[mamaofami]

We need Lou and Dave in Boston.

[Vict0riann]

Right! Lou and Dave, where are you when we need you? :D

[innlady1]

We need Lou and Dave in Boston.

 

EXACTLY!!! How long have I been pleading for that??? :eek:

[rafinmd]

Shiela, I couldn't agree more. While at sea I don't look much at prior posts directly but do get an email digest of posts which I check off line so I'll try to respond later.

 

I awoke just a little after 5, and went out for an early walk. A huge, bright sun came up over the water against a clear sky around 6. I left the hotel around 10, laden with about 55 pounds of junk divided between a backpack, a daypack worn backwards over the chest and a small carryon in my hand, the half mile walk to South Station is suggesting I'm getting too old for this. There were 2 ships in town, sisters Maasdam and Veendam and both were sitting behind the terminal building. There were a number of cruisers waiting as I boarded the SL2 bus to the waterfront, and all had Veendam bag tags.

 

As we approached the terminal everyone got off at the first stop. We could not clearly see the ship sitting in front of us but it turned out to be the Maasdam, and we needed to walk nearly the full length of the cruise terminal. The second bus stop would have been much closer.

 

Checkin was a bit disorganized but very quick and completed by 11. Boarding had not begun and I was assigned group 4 and directed to a waiting area. The first people boarded about 11:30 and my group followed about 15 minutes later. I was in the Rotterdam dining room for Mariners Embarkation Lunch soon after noon, for carrot soup, a chicken dish, and ice cream. My bags were in my cabin after lunch.

 

The Veendam is one of HAL's S class ships, the 4 oldest ships built for HAL. It is my first time on an S class, although I have been on the next ("R") class and found the layout quite familiar. The biggest difference seems to be that the S ships have only 2 sets of stairs/elevators while the R's have a midship stair.

 

The afternoon went quite quickly and the 3:15 muster drill soon arrived. Despite the lack of midship stairs the evacuation to the promenade deck was quick and smooth, and I thought it one of the most professional muster drills I have seen recently. This is my second cruise with Captain Pieter Bos; the first was 16 years ago on the SS Rotterdam. After all passengers were accounted for (roll was called twice by our lifeboat commander, then missing names were escalated to 2nd officer Philip Davidson and finally Captain Bos from the Bridge. Captain Bos explained the correspondence between the drill and a real emergency with us first being told to return to our cabins for life vests, clothing, and medicine. We should then expect a call for staff to take positions along the escape routes, and finally for us to proceed to the lifeboats. That was exactly what happened today (other than not taking life vests; HAL has concluded that the benefits of taking them on a drill do not justify the falls that result from dangling straps). As the drill concluded around 3:40 the Maasdam started backing out of the harbor. We followed about 40 minutes later and were out to sea as my dinner began.

 

Dinner seemed like old home week. I'm at an 8 top with a Maryland couple who once lived less than a mile from me and a group from near my boyhood home in Syracuse, NY. The evening show was a brief introduction to all the entertainers on the ship. Our Cruise Director is another familiar face, Linda Minnikin who I had 2 years ago on a Prinsendam Arctic cruise and who I will encounter again in barely 3 months on the Prinsendam on the Amazon.

 

As today's parting shot there's been a recent thread on Cruise Critic's HAL forum on "bucket list" cruises. One of the trends in my life that many of my "must do" cruises spring from missed opportunities on previous trips. For example, several years ago I was on a Suez Canal cruise that stopped in Egypt. The cruise line delayed getting me information on the ports and I missed the opportunity to visit the Valley of the Kings. I booked a Nile River cruise, arrived exhausted in Cairo, and was given a description of a tour to Alexandria that I was too tired to read until it was too late. That continued the string with a Mediterranean cruise a year later. This cruise starts with a transatlantic on the Crystal Symphony last year. I have a relative in Halifax (Ron is older than me, but actually his late mother was my cousin). We had planned to get together on a port call last year but Atlantic storms and hurricanes delayed our departure from Reykjavik and forced us to detour so far that we had no time for Halifax. This time Ron and I will get together for the first time in over a decade. Sometimes it's funny how our choices get made.

 

This post comes to you live from the Veendam. Toodle Loo for now.

 

Roy

[mamaofami]

Sounds like a really nice start.

[kazu]

Well if you are ending with Tootle doo's or tootelee doos - there is no question that Linda is your CD and is starting to rub off on you.:)

 

Enjoyed your report Roy and happy to tell you that Saint John looks like it will have beautiful weather tomorrow. Any fog that appears should lift quickly (I hope).:)

 

Smooth seas:D

[innlady1]

Well if you are ending with Tootle doo's or tootelee doos - there is no question that Linda is your CD and is starting to rub off on you.:)

 

Enjoyed your report Roy and happy to tell you that Saint John looks like it will have beautiful weather tomorrow. Any fog that appears should lift quickly (I hope).:)

 

Smooth seas:D

 

LOL...Jacqui! I'd forgotten that about Linda!

[rafinmd]

Glad you're aboard, and so far---so good.

 

Thanks for mentioning the piano player. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to stop in this week, and get an idea how he is. And then post your findings! :D

He starts later tonight because he's part of the opening show, and that should be schedule for 9:30 (I didn't open the link to the schedule).

 

Beautiful day for a sail-away! Lucky you.

 

 

RuthC, Eric did have a number in the opening show. He’s no Mark Farris (or Stryker apparently) but he was definitely worth a visit. Eric was followed in the show by a male/female singing duo from the HALCats who were the best act of the show. Unfortunately, they sang What a Wonderful World (the Crystal Sailaway song), and hearing that on another cruise line is always difficult for me.

 

We need Lou and Dave in Boston.

 

Shiela, Ann, and Carol, we really do need Lou and Dave in Boston.

I was surprised by how much tooting there was as we backed out of our slip, their cameras there would be fantastic, although the Maasdam’s tooting was a bit frustrating as we went through the muster roll call and Captain Bos was speaking.

 

Kazu and Shiela, you correctly caught on about Linda.

 

Roy

[startwin]

So far so good - I will so enjoy reading your reports. Have a great cruise!

[PathfinderEss]

Hope you have a great cruise Rafinmd. Sounds like it has already started well.:)

[scopewest]

Enjoy your cruise, those are great ports!

[mamaofami]

We could really use Marc Farris at the piano, but he's beenCrystalized.Our loss on Hal.