Explore the world with Pete & Judy on the 2018 Holland America Grand World Voyage

[Crystal2019]

I found your blog today, just read all 7 days of posting... Great job and thank you! I will be following along as I will be taking the 2019 GWV, so looking for any and all information that will help me along.

 

Your zip lining sounds like fun, I enjoy it and done it here in So. CA. so I'll be sure to book one next year.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Day 6, 9 Jan 2018, Transit the Panama Canal

 

Panama Canal

 

Today we will transit through the Panama Canal. It’s always exciting to watch this engineering marvel in action. The new, wider locks are open and in service, but we will be using the original locks.

We arrived at the Gatun locks at 7 am and would spend the next 90 minutes going thru the various locks until we sailed into Gatun Lake where we would spend most of the day.

 

 

One advantage of transiting the Panama Canal on the World Cruise is that all the viewing spots around the ship, normally packed on a normal Panama Canal Cruise, are virtually empty. I wandered up to the Crows Nest around 8 am and there were still prime window seats available and all the extra chairs set up on the dance floor were unused.

 

I wanted to check out the other prime viewing spots to check on the crowds (or lack thereof). On the way to the bow, I passed thru the Lido which had a normal breakfast crowd and there were still plenty of window seats available. Walking out onto the bow, there were about 20 people there and about 20-30 or so up on the 6th level observation deck.

 

Panama Canal Rolls!

 

The famous Panama Canal Rolls – Recipe HERE – were available at most viewing venues until 9 AM. If anyone missed the Panama Canal Rolls, they will reappear as Sydney Opera House Rolls, Hong Kong Rolls and probably a few other harbor rolls before this cruise is over. I sampled one on the bow and they were as tasty as always.

 

Texas Hold’em

 

Good game for me today as I finished in the money (second) for the first time this cruise.

 

Pinnacle Grill Lunch

 

The Pinnacle Grill is open for lunch - $10 is the normal charge before any mariner discounts. The service is always fantastic, and the menu has a lot of nice choices. Highly recommended for a nice change of pace.

 

We hosted Abba Fab for lunch today in the Pinnacle Grill along with our friends from Table 52 on the 2016 cruise. The same people who perform Abba Fab will also be performing their show called “The Piano Men” this evening, which features the music of Billy Joel and Elton John.

 

Miraflores Locks

 

The Miraflores locks would be our final set of locks today before we entered the Pacific Ocean. I always enjoy these locks the most because they occur later in the day (no early morning wakeup) and the Canal’s main visitor center is here so you always have a crowd of people cheering and waving as you pass buy. As we were waiting to clear these locks we could see other ships using the new locks to our west, but there was small rise between our location and the other ships so all we could see from our vantage point was the upper parts of the other ships and the control tower that operates the new locks.

 

Anchoring

 

The Amsterdam dropped her anchor around 6pm or so and started to run tenders around 7pm. Based on the crowds and the shows and in the dining room, I don’t think that many people chose to go ashore this evening. Tenders will run until 1 am and start again at 6 AM tomorrow morning.

 

Dinner

 

The food on the cruise continues to be exceptional with every meal to date being wonderful. Tonight Judy and I had the Grilled Kingfish with Roasted Corn Salsa. Our service is exceptional and even though we are at a table for 10, we are usually finished in about 90 minutes.

 

The Piano Men

 

Terry Davies performs in Abba Fab but he takes center stage for the groups presentation of “The Piano Men”, a tribute to the music of Elton John and Billy Joel. They play all the favorites including a very nice rendition of “Circle of Life”. A special treat was a performance by Nick of a Billy Joel favorite – We Didn’t Start the Fire” where he updated the lyrics to include more recent historical references. You will find Abba Fab and The Piano Man performing on a variety of different cruise lines and land venues. If you ever have a chance to catch their show live – don’t miss it.

 

More on the blog including menus, daily programs and pictures

[DeeniEncinitas]

Day 6, 9 Jan 2018, Transit the Panama Canal

 

Panama Canal

 

Today we will transit through the Panama Canal. It’s always exciting to watch this engineering marvel in action. The new, wider locks are open and in service, but we will be using the original locks.

We arrived at the Gatun locks at 7 am and would spend the next 90 minutes going thru the various locks until we sailed into Gatun Lake where we would spend most of the day.

 

 

One advantage of transiting the Panama Canal on the World Cruise is that all the viewing spots around the ship, normally packed on a normal Panama Canal Cruise, are virtually empty. I wandered up to the Crows Nest around 8 am and there were still prime window seats available and all the extra chairs set up on the dance floor were unused.

 

I wanted to check out the other prime viewing spots to check on the crowds (or lack thereof). On the way to the bow, I passed thru the Lido which had a normal breakfast crowd and there were still plenty of window seats available. Walking out onto the bow, there were about 20 people there and about 20-30 or so up on the 6th level observation deck.

 

Panama Canal Rolls!

 

The famous Panama Canal Rolls – Recipe HERE – were available at most viewing venues until 9 AM. If anyone missed the Panama Canal Rolls, they will reappear as Sydney Opera House Rolls, Hong Kong Rolls and probably a few other harbor rolls before this cruise is over. I sampled one on the bow and they were as tasty as always.

 

Texas Hold’em

 

Good game for me today as I finished in the money (second) for the first time this cruise.

 

Pinnacle Grill Lunch

 

The Pinnacle Grill is open for lunch - $10 is the normal charge before any mariner discounts. The service is always fantastic, and the menu has a lot of nice choices. Highly recommended for a nice change of pace.

 

We hosted Abba Fab for lunch today in the Pinnacle Grill along with our friends from Table 52 on the 2016 cruise. The same people who perform Abba Fab will also be performing their show called “The Piano Men” this evening, which features the music of Billy Joel and Elton John.

 

Miraflores Locks

 

The Miraflores locks would be our final set of locks today before we entered the Pacific Ocean. I always enjoy these locks the most because they occur later in the day (no early morning wakeup) and the Canal’s main visitor center is here so you always have a crowd of people cheering and waving as you pass buy. As we were waiting to clear these locks we could see other ships using the new locks to our west, but there was small rise between our location and the other ships so all we could see from our vantage point was the upper parts of the other ships and the control tower that operates the new locks.

 

Anchoring

 

The Amsterdam dropped her anchor around 6pm or so and started to run tenders around 7pm. Based on the crowds and the shows and in the dining room, I don’t think that many people chose to go ashore this evening. Tenders will run until 1 am and start again at 6 AM tomorrow morning.

 

Dinner

 

The food on the cruise continues to be exceptional with every meal to date being wonderful. Tonight Judy and I had the Grilled Kingfish with Roasted Corn Salsa. Our service is exceptional and even though we are at a table for 10, we are usually finished in about 90 minutes.

 

The Piano Men

 

Terry Davies performs in Abba Fab but he takes center stage for the groups presentation of “The Piano Men”, a tribute to the music of Elton John and Billy Joel. They play all the favorites including a very nice rendition of “Circle of Life”. A special treat was a performance by Nick of a Billy Joel favorite – We Didn’t Start the Fire” where he updated the lyrics to include more recent historical references. You will find Abba Fab and The Piano Man performing on a variety of different cruise lines and land venues. If you ever have a chance to catch their show live – don’t miss it.

 

More on the blog including menus, daily programs and pictures

 

Enjoyed reading so early this am here in San Diego. Keep them coming Peter.

Denise:)

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Day 7, Fuerte Amador, Panama

 

The New Locks

 

As we have transited the canal on previous cruises we always heard a lot of talk about the new canal locks. The completion date regularly seemed to slip further and further into the future. Since our last visit to the canal, the new locks have been completed and are now in use. They are difficult to see clearly from a cruise ship transiting the old canal since they are hidden behind terrain and buildings. The new locks have been in operation for over a year and there is a visitor center established to view the new locks on the Caribbean side.

HAL Tour

 

HAL offers a tour to the new locks visitor center and we elected to buy the HAL tour as opposed to arranging one on our own. The price for a smaller group was about the same price as the HAL tour and we would have the advantage of priority tendering plus HALs assurance that they would be responsible for any delays we may encounter. I don’t mind a larger ship tour when the tour is primarily a shuttle bus to a single venue. When the ship tour visits several stops, lunch and shopping, the overhead of a larger group (getting on and off the bus several times – taking longer for lunch etc) becomes a bigger factor. For a single stop trip like this tour, a larger group isn’t that bad.

 

Taking a HAL tour in a tender port gives you an advantage because you do not have to get a tender ticket. Depending on the length of the tender ride and other factors, avoiding the requirement to get a tender ticket may be a big deal and it is always something to consider when choosing to go on a ships tour or on a private tour. Another factor deciding between a ships tour or a private tour in this case was the distance involved with going to the new locks. They are over 50 miles away with the travel time of about 90 minutes. Being that far from the ship in the area that is susceptible to heavy traffic can be risky. Especially in this case since the consequences for missing the ship in Panama means you probably wouldn't be able to rejoin the ship until Tahiti over a week later.

 

The ship started tendering at 6 AM. Our tour’s meeting time was 7:15 AM in the Queens lounge. Even though they don't have priority tendering this cruise due to the large number of Four Star Mariners and above, they offered open tendering until 8 AM for those people who needed to be off early. After 8 AM everyone would be required to get a tender ticket.

We left the Queens lounge about 7:45 to head down to A deck where we would board the tenders. The ride to the shore took about 15 minutes and we were on the tour buses a few minutes later. It took about 90 minutes to reach the new lock visitor center and we spent most the time traveling on a new modern four-lane expressway. Traffic was light.

 

New locks official names is Aqua Clara or clear water. We learned later that the locks are named for geographical features of the surrounding area. Unlike the Miraflores visitor Center on the Pacific coast, this visitor center does not have any exhibits or displays except for a small theater or showing a 12 minute video. The visitor center sits on a rise above the locks with fantastic a view which, which is further away from the locks then the Miraflores Visitor Center. It’s not practical to wave at passengers or crew members passing ships, you are simply too far away to be easily seen.

 

The observation area is covered so even if it is raining you will stay dry. There is also a gift shop and a small snack bar in addition to the movie theater. While we were there for 90 minutes, if you were to arrange a private tour here you could probably be finished in about 45 minutes seeing all that needed to be seen. This would depend somewhat on whether or not you want to see ships pass through the entire lock system or if you were satisfied with simply seeing the lock mechanism from this vantage point.

On the way back to the ship our bus stopped at a rest stop right off the highway. We thought it a little interesting that there would be a rest stop on a tollroad that was only 40 miles long. The rest stop had clean bathrooms with a snack bar and sold convenience food type items.

Fuerte Amador

 

The area where the tour started is called Fuerte Amador and is located at the end of a long peninsula Road. Here you will also find several restaurants, some duty-free shops, free Wi-Fi and a few other tourist businesses. We spent about an hour wandering through these shops before we took a tender back to the Amsterdam.

SailAway

 

The SailAway party was lightly attended and there was a couple of waiters passing snacks around the Seaview pool.

Dinner

 

Dinner was fantastic. I decided to go with the shrimp theme this evening with Shrimp Cocktail, Seafood Cioppino followed by Grilled Shrimp and Grits as the main course. All the food was delicious. As we are wrapping up our first week it appears that the second seating on the upper level will be about 75% full which does help with service.

Fred Moore in the Queens Lounge

 

The Entertainment tonight was a magician/comedian named Fred Moore. He was very good and put on a wonderful show. He showed how one trick was performed using a fake egg but then at the end that fake egg mysteriously turned into a real egg – pretty amazing.

 

Tomorrow will be the first of 8 sea days before we arrive in Nuka Hiva. These sea days will be filled with many choices of activities and will feature the Tahitian entertainment team that teaches lei making, ukulele and more.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Got caught up.

We love those Panama Buns. A few of those are our breakfast on Panama day.

Great reporting and pictures.

[Keith1010]

I am really enjoying your posts.

 

Keith

[kazu]

Great reports!

 

Love the pics of the new locks - thank you :)

 

Sounds like you have some pretty terrific entertainment on board :)

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Sea Days

 

Today is the first of 8 sea days as we head across the Pacific Ocean towards our next port of call in Nuka Hiva. We like sea days a lot, and if you're not a big fan of sea days then you really must consider whether a world cruise is something you would find enjoyable. This cruise has 48 port days and 65 sea days.

 

Sometimes you use a cruise ship as simply a means to get from one point to the other and your focus is the land portion. We enjoy the experiences on a cruise ship as much as seeing the various ports so the activities available to us during sea days is very important. A Grand Voyage, as compared to a normal Holland America cruise, will have a lot more choices of things to do during a sea day. You really must read the daily program each evening to make sure that you don't miss anything you might find interesting. You can't assume that a certain activity that took place at a certain time on the previous day will take place every day at that same time.

 

Tahitian Seashell Lei Making Class

 

This morning at 9 o'clock was the Tahitian Seashell Lei making class. This is a very popular activity, so we arrived at 8:30 AM, 30 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time. By 8:45 AM all the available seats were taken. As a rule, if you want to guarantee a seat at any activity during the world cruise, it's best to arrive 30 minutes early to ensure the that you will have a place.

 

The Polynesian location team consists of two men and two women who will teach a variety of classes and lead activities throughout our eight-day transit to Tahiti.

 

There were about eight tables of eight set up for the class. Before the class started the people from the location team put about 80 small shell rings at each place setting. We also received a ribbon about 17-18 inches long with a twisted wire connected to the end to use as a needle to string the shells. Once we had all the equipment making the Seashell leis was basic and self-explanatory. The class was over almost as soon as it started because the actual process of making the leis was so elementary. For the rest of the day, you could tell who was in the seashell class, because everyone was Judy and Pete with the Polynesian Location Team

 

Knitting

 

My knitting lessons continued at 10 o'clock in the Crow’s Nest. There were about six or seven other ladies working on projects and two women learning how to knit. Under Judy’s expert guidance I managed to complete three rows. It was still slow going for me and I'm gradually catching on but it's taking longer than I expected.

 

Texas Hold’em

 

Judy stays in the Crow’s Nest for an hour or so afterwards I went down to the Texas hold 'em game at 1030. I had a good day today winning my first tournament outright. The game came down to my table mate and Texas Hold’em mentor, Rick, going head to head. I had position and the cards were friendly and was able to use the tactics that Rick taught me earlier to good advantage much to his chagrin.

 

We played two more games, but my luck was gone and I didn't finish in the money.

 

Ukulele Class

 

I was busy with Texas Hole’em so I missed the start of the Ukulele Class and all the Ukuleles were already distributed by the time I arrived. Judy was there in time to grab one and continued with her progress toward becoming a Ukulele virtuoso.

 

Drawing Class

 

While I was playing Texas hold 'em, Judy went to the drawing class in the Wajang theater. She reported that the theater still had a few seats empty when the class started. Ben Sack, a professional artist from the Washington DC area, is the instructor. He will be teaching drawing using art pencils and he passed out sketchbooks which the students would keep but the pencils had to be returned after each class. He announced he is going to do a 4 foot x 4 foot drawing during the cruise with portions of the drawing featuring each port. At the end of the cruise he will hold her art exhibit where he will sell copies.

Most of the first class was spent discussing the procedures the class would follow in addition to some history of drawing and art. Judy had a great time and she's looking forward to going every day.

 

Crafts

 

While I continued to play Texas hold them all afternoon Judy went on to the craft class at 2:30 PM in the Lido market. Today she made a small cloth pouch to hold your cruise card. There were about 80 people taking part.

 

Dinner

 

We had a special guest for dinner this evening, Sarah Chandler. She is a guest entertainer who plays classical music with a saxophone. We saw her perform on the 2016 world cruise and enjoyed her shows very much. She'll be performing for the first time this cruise on January 16 and we expect she'll probably do a second show before she leaves the ship in Tahiti.

 

Our table is a 10 top but we can squeeze in one more chair for a maximum of 11 when we host a guest.

 

Sarah is a wonderful dinner companion and everyone at the table enjoyed hearing about her background and we are especially pleased to learn that she was recently engaged. We even got to see a picture of her beautiful wedding dress.

 

Our dining room waiters DeDen and Billy are fabulous. Before each meal they give us a quick overview of the menu with their recommendations which prove helpful. The timing of all our dinner courses has been perfect and they remain attentive throughout the evening without being overbearing. The entire dining experience has exceeded our already high expectations for this cruise.

 

Queens lounge

 

Martin Beaumont, a comedian, was the headliner this evening and was very funny. He had an excellent delivery with well written material and being from England he brought an interesting perspective to many every day events. Despite the smaller turnout at the late show Martin did a wonderful job keeping the audience engaged.

 

[gigianne]

I keep looking for the “like” button! Thanks for taking the time to write your updates - you are heading to an area that we visited in 2016 - enjoy! Good luck with the knitting.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I forgot to give a Shout Out to Jerry and Kathy (LuvsACruise) for organizing our slot pull. Very well organized with 25 people participating and we all had a good time. We ended up putting $15 in the machine and got $11 back

[DeeniEncinitas]

You guys sure are enjoying your sea days!!

A lot of things you can do to occupy your time and also relax!

Looking forward to more adventures with you!

Denise:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great reporting.

Glad to see that HAL is keeping you all busy on those sea days.

[Tampa Girl]

Question re plug outlets in a Vista Suite: Is there a place where you can plug in your own hair dryer?

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Morning Coffee Talk with Hamish

 

Eddy, the florist, put on a special demonstration this morning in the Explorer’s lounge. This was followed by an interview with Cruise Director Hamish at 9:30 AM. We learned that Eddy is not an employee of Holland America but from a company called Dianthus International that supplies florists to many cruise ships throughout the world. His partner, Calista, was unable to attend today's demonstration.

 

 

Eddy attended six years of formal training in the Netherlands to become a florist. I didn't realize that becoming a florist might entail six years of formal training. After his training he came to the United States and opened a flower shop in Baltimore. In 2005 he returned to the Netherlands and started working on cruise ships. He is so highly regarded that during his normal off time in the summer, he will often be used to train other florists as well as design new arrangements for various ships. He was instrumental in designing the large "WoW" arrangements seen on the Koningsdam. Due to the smaller size of the Amsterdam, there is only one large WoW arrangement and that is in the Explorer’s lounge. There are 11 large pedestal arrangements and over 50 table arrangements elsewhere throughout the ship.

Eddy and Calista are hard workers and they spend 8 to 9 hours a day on their feet tending to all the flower arrangements around the ship. The flower budget on the grand world voyage is about $5000 a week.

At some point during the cruise Eddy will offer a flower arranging workshop to passengers for $29. Everyone who was interested was asked to sign up and he would notify us later when this would take place.

 

Knitting

 

My knitting training continued at 10 AM in the Crow’s nest. I managed to do three rows today, semi-independently and I'm slowly getting the feel of it. Judy's other students, Dawn and Margaret, are racing ahead and I will have to get faster if I want to stay on pace.

 

Wine Tasting

 

I didn't play Texas Hold'em this morning as I decided to go to a wine tasting in the dining room at 11 o'clock. We were served four glasses of wine, each one was a full serving as opposed to the normal smaller serving sizes used at more typical wine tastings. We got a chuckle out of watching one person pour both classes of their red wine into a single go cup for drinking later during the day. The Cellar Master was the Master of Ceremonies and he combined the expected explanation of the various wines along with a series of amusing anecdotes. Along with the wine we are served plate of various cheeses with small pieces of bread.

 

Lunch and Polynesian Dancing

 

Judy and I had lunch near the pool were the Polynesian location team was dancing and playing a variety of Polynesian music. Judy had a Dive Inn hot dog while I took advantage of the taco bar.

 

Texas Hold’em

 

I didn't win my Texas hold 'em game today. I managed to knock out Rick on the first hand. He very aggressively went all in and the rest of the table folded but I decided to keep him honest with my suited king and queen. He flipped over and Ace Jack and I was lucky to see a King on the turn which held up for the win.

 

Drawing Class

 

The drawing class continues to be well attended. Judy is learning how to draw gesture and movement.

 

Crafts

 

Judy was up at crafts at 2:30 PM and when I went to meet her after my card game I learned that even though she arrived 15 minutes early over 100 people were already there and they only had 100 projects. If you want to participate in Crafts you need to get there early. Judy and Margaret put the time to good use and continued to work on their knitting with Judy teaching Margaret how to cast on.

 

Tahiti Drum Dance Class

 

In the Queens lounge this afternoon the Polynesian location team held a class teaching the group the native drum dance of Tahiti. We didn't participate, but it was fun to watch everyone else give it a good try.

 

Dutch Dinner

 

We had a Dutch themed dinner in the dining room tonight. All the staff were wearing bright orange and the men were given black caps while the women were given a white cap that made them all look like flying nuns. The menu included Dutch Green Pea Soup, Spaghetti with old Amsterdam Cheese, Rijstafel and Indonesian Style Stir-Fried Noodles.

Susan was absent as she went to the first of many Captains Dinners offered to full world cruisers. She came back to our table for coffee and desert and shared the details of her wonderful evening. She was at a table with an officer from the Culinary Arts Center and had a great time.

 

Queens Lounge

 

Helen Wilding, a female vocalist, was the featured entertainer in the Queens Lounge. She put on a spectacular show singing a wide range of music from Opera to a beautiful rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” We are looking forward to an encore performance later in the week.

[Tampa Girl]

I think it would be a great idea to have a flower arranging workshop. I participated in one on Cunard's QM. It was well attended and quite helpful. Consider this a vote for the workshop!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I have posted every main dining room menu on the blog. There are many activities on aGrand Voyage. I have posted every When and Where will lists all the activities offered every day.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Years ago there was a flowering arrangement class on one of our cruises and we enjoyed it very much.

We gave up on the wine tasting classes as many were very poor. Just a few drops of wine in a class and a staff member who barely knew what he was talking about.

Glad the World Cruises still have the theme nights at dinner. We loved them on our regular cruises.

Great report.

[mame42]

Question: The Wine Tasting does not appear to be listed in the W & W. Are they by invitation only? Thanks.

[kazu]

I have posted every main dining room menu on the blog. There are many activities on aGrand Voyage. I have posted every When and Where will lists all the activities offered every day.

 

Thanks so much for doing this :)

 

Very interesting.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Years ago there was a flowering arrangement class on one of our cruises and we enjoyed it very much.

We gave up on the wine tasting classes as many were very poor. Just a few drops of wine in a class and a staff member who barely knew what he was talking about.

Glad the World Cruises still have the theme nights at dinner. We loved them on our regular cruises.

Great report.

 

This wine tasting was more of a wine drinking sessions. They gave us 4 full pours - discussion led by the Cellar Master - well done.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Question: The Wine Tasting does not appear to be listed in the W & W. Are they by invitation only? Thanks.

 

The wine tasting I described was one of the complimentary tastings for 4 and 5 stars by invitation only. I am sure there will be others open to all.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Question re plug outlets in a Vista Suite: Is there a place where you can plug in your own hair dryer?

 

There are 3 outlets in the Vista Suite. A pair of outlets on the desk - one with 115 Volts (north american plug) and one with 220 volts (euro style plug) - see pictures on the blog - first day post

 

There is a built in hair dryer in the bathroom with a plug that can provide either 115 or 220 volts - labeled for shavers only. May not have enough current to power a air dryer.

 

There is a another hair dryer (euro plugs) and a make up mirror provided in the Vista Suite. I will post pictures later on the blog - check under 2018 world cruise reference.

[mame42]

The wine tasting I described was one of the complimentary tastings for 4 and 5 stars by invitation only. I am sure there will be others open to all.

 

Many thanks!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I post the When and Where but leave off the last two pages that list recurring ads and dining room hours.

[Tampa Girl]

There are 3 outlets in the Vista Suite. A pair of outlets on the desk - one with 115 Volts (north american plug) and one with 220 volts (euro style plug) - see pictures on the blog - first day post

 

There is a built in hair dryer in the bathroom with a plug that can provide either 115 or 220 volts - labeled for shavers only. May not have enough current to power a air dryer.

 

There is a another hair dryer (euro plugs) and a make up mirror provided in the Vista Suite. I will post pictures later on the blog - check under 2018 world cruise reference.

 

Thanks for the info.