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**Near-Live Blog of Zaandam Inca and South America Cruise 24 Sep - 3 Nov 2018**


0bnxshs
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This is going to be my first attempt at blogging any cruise. I expect to update it every few days, perhaps more often than that, as we go along, depending of course on internet connectivity and cost as well as whether I do anything noteworthy and can motivate my "short attention span" self to actually do it. I'm hoping that getting it started now might aid in that latter effort.

 

Pictures; I hope to post a few along the way as well. We'll see how that goes too.

 

Questions; I'll do my best to answer any questions anyone might have. If the information is readily available, shouldn't be a problem. If it's something I need to ask someone about, between my attention span issues and failing memory... I'll do my best. Give me a few days for those. :confused: Even in packing I'll walk from one end of my small house to the other and, upon arriving there, have no idea why I made the trip, only to leave and, half way back, remember what I was trying to accomplish and head back, usually interrupted by a maddening trip to the restroom. No, lists don't work as I usually misplace the list at some point (I often find them in the restroom or garage). I'm a visual person; I have to see it in front of me to know I've gotten it. Hence the following pictures.

 

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Shoes and other packing stuff. I like using the plastic bags that linens, sheets and such come in for containing like items.

 

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The Participants: Myself and my father-in-law, Roger (not to mention a ship full of others as well). We've gone on cruises together before without either of us wishing the other somehow would become shark-bait along the way. The most recent was the 29 day Amazon Explorer cruise in Nov-Dec 2016. Before that we'd done a couple of shorter cruises to the Caribbean and Alaska together. We get along quite well, mostly because he is so easy to get along with. I've been married to his oldest daughter for 40 years. She'll be staying behind working and caring for our 2 mini Schnauzers and her mother (not necessarily in that order) and trying to scare away any tropical storms eyeing Florida. It's thanks to her efforts that I get to cruise and I really and truly appreciate her. The pups aren't so happy with knowing they're being left behind and I've been getting the evil eye a lot....

 

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Reigna swore last time (after my DW and I cruised to Hawaii in April 2018) that she'd not miss the next one....

 

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Our cruise leaves Seattle on Monday 24 Sep and we are flying out of Orlando on Sunday morning. We'll be staying at the Marriott Waterfront near Pike's Market. I think it's the same hotel that the famous "gambee" of the well known cruisewithgambee.com blog site stayed at this summer. From Seattle we'll stop in Vancouver and then head all the way down the west coast of the new world, turn the corner at Cape Horn, skid out to the Falklands and then make our way back to the east coast of South America and wind up in Rio de Janeiro. With a bit of luck we will depart the ship in Trujillo, Peru and travel to Machu Picchu, rejoining the ship in Lima after 2 nights. We have a couple of other HAL excursions and a couple of private ones already planned too. In Manta, Ecuador Roger's brother (who has a condo and lives part-time there) will meet us and take us around for the day. The rest of the trip is mostly unplanned and we'll spontaneously decide from day to day what to do. Just as we like it.

 

I hope to post next from Seattle on Sunday unless something spectacular happens before then or there's a question needing an answer.

 

Please follow along and participate as you like! I do hope my efforts do justice to your expectations. :D

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I will be following your review. We were on the Zaandam last April and May when she made her way from Ft. Lauderdale up to Seattle for the Alaska cruise season. And...we will be on her again for one of the Antarctica itineraries this winter.

 

Looking forward to any little tidbits you can share about the ship and what you do in ports! Have a great cruise. :)

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So happy to hear you are doing a live thread, Rich.

 

You are off to a great start so I suspect it will be a great thread.

 

I appreciate any and all posts that you take the time to do and very much looking forward to each and everyone.

 

Safe travels to you and Roger and have a WONDERFUL time on your cruise.

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I will also be following your review.

I love the dog sleeping in the suitcase.

 

She'd made quite a little nest in there by the time I was ready to put the suitcase away. :) Made me feel bad to put it away. Sure wish I could pack her for this one.

 

I see already that the photos aren't all showing up. For that I apologize. I did make sure they all did before I posted. Guess we'll see how that plays out.

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Hi Obnxshs! Very much looking forward to following your adventures on the Zaandam`s first South American trip of the season as we will be on the last trip of the season from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale next March. Bon Voyage to you both!

 

Be sure to ask any questions you have about Zaandam. I'll be happy to give you my impression of her. I expect it will be mostly good as I am mostly pretty easy to please. :)

 

Looking forward to your "live from." Have a great trip!

 

I hope to get a good idea of the bars and will be tasting all the "bird" I can at each. Have many hundreds in beverage cards to make sure I can get a good gauge of the service at each bar. In case you don't know, I'm a Wild Turkey 101, or "bird man" and appreciate that HAL stocks it.

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I will be following your review. We were on the Zaandam last April and May when she made her way from Ft. Lauderdale up to Seattle for the Alaska cruise season. And...we will be on her again for one of the Antarctica itineraries this winter.

 

Looking forward to any little tidbits you can share about the ship and what you do in ports! Have a great cruise. :)

 

This will be our first cruise on Zaandam. We've been to Antarctica before, when Veendam was doing the route. You are in for a treat. Wish this itinerary was going there.

 

I'll be sure to provide my impression of Zaandam and any little secrets I discover on her. In many ports we'll simple go ashore and have a local beer or 6 but I certainly review our excursions as we do them.

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So happy to hear you are doing a live thread, Rich.

You are off to a great start so I suspect it will be a great thread.

 

I appreciate any and all posts that you take the time to do and very much looking forward to each and everyone.

 

Safe travels to you and Roger and have a WONDERFUL time on your cruise.

 

I know my efforts here will pale in comparison to your rich and detailed blogs. But I'll be aiming to make you proud. :D I know you'll be aboard Zaandam next spring so be sure to ask any questions you'll like answers to; I may surprise you and be able to provide them! :cool:

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Looking forward to your Live From, Rich!

 

We did this cruise last year, the other way around, and enjoyed it very much. We also did an Alaska cruise on Zaandam a few weeks ago, and I have one question for you to check into.

 

In the past, on HAL we have always seen that little sign "Water is precious. Please conserve it." posted over the sink in the bathroom. On Zaandam, in our little last-minute inside, there was no sign. I really missed it. Please let me know if that is the way in every bathroom on Zaandam - of course I know you won't visit every bathroom on the ship!:eek: Maybe water is no longer precious....

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Following and looking forward to this.

 

I’m glad my pup hasn’t thought about getting into my luggage yet... he does back into my legs hard and insist in sitting on my lap when he knows I’m going somewhere.... all 120 pounds of him.:o

 

What a mighty big dog you have! :eek: Reigna is all of 4.5 lbs at 2 years old. I know yours is just as lovable as mine though. :hearteyes:

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I see already that the photos aren't all showing up. For that I apologize. I did make sure they all did before I posted. Guess we'll see how that plays out.

 

All your photos showed fine when I read the thread, Rich.

 

Not sure what equipment you are taking or what you like to use, but for pics, I like to have them on my Ipad and either use tap a talk or "attach" think on CC.

 

Tapatalk is usually faster when internet time is precious if it will let you do more than one pic at a time.:halo:

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Looking forward to your Live From, Rich!

 

We did this cruise last year, the other way around, and enjoyed it very much. We also did an Alaska cruise on Zaandam a few weeks ago, and I have one question for you to check into.

 

In the past, on HAL we have always seen that little sign "Water is precious. Please conserve it." posted over the sink in the bathroom. On Zaandam, in our little last-minute inside, there was no sign. I really missed it. Please let me know if that is the way in every bathroom on Zaandam - of course I know you won't visit every bathroom on the ship!:eek: Maybe water is no longer precious....

 

We really are looking forward to the cruise. I am quite familiar with the signs you are talking about. Thanks for letting me off the hook of visiting every bathroom! I'll let you know what ours says and, if I happen to have the opportunity, one or two others.

 

Thanks for following along. Now I have to start of list of things to check on...... :rolleyes: at least there's no garage for me to lose it in and I'll be right where I need to be if I leave it in the bathroom.

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I know my efforts here will pale in comparison to your rich and detailed blogs. But I'll be aiming to make you proud. :D I know you'll be aboard Zaandam next spring so be sure to ask any questions you'll like answers to; I may surprise you and be able to provide them! :cool:

 

Well, I don't know if I would call mine rich and detailed.

 

I have a feeling yours will be much better than mine.

 

I haven't been on the Zaandam (believe it or not ;) ) so I'm looking forward to your reports.

 

It's a lovely itinerary. I'm sure you two will have a great cruise (yn)

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All your photos showed fine when I read the thread, Rich.

 

Not sure what equipment you are taking or what you like to use, but for pics, I like to have them on my Ipad and either use tap a talk or "attach" think on CC.

 

Tapatalk is usually faster when internet time is precious if it will let you do more than one pic at a time.:halo:

 

It's a bit hard to make out but did you notice what was in the bottom center of the first photo? He always come along now.....

 

I may end up using "Tapatalk" yet.

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It's a bit hard to make out but did you notice what was in the bottom center of the first photo? He always come along now.....

 

I may end up using "Tapatalk" yet.

 

I didn't notice originally but now...Oh, I see him :)

 

I LOVE that you bring him along <3

 

And so happy you are enjoying him. :D Someone chose wisely :halo: it appears. :loudcry:

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I will definitely be following along on your blog! I also did one from Zaandam earlier this summer in Alaska. Really enjoyed it. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Sue

www.suebees.wordpress.com

 

 

Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk

 

Yes, I did follow along with yours. It was one of the several blogs done over the summer that inspired me to think "I could do this.....". Now the proof of the pudding will be in the writing for me and reading for you. Hope it turns out well!

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Yes, I did follow along with yours. It was one of the several blogs done over the summer that inspired me to think "I could do this.....". Now the proof of the pudding will be in the writing for me and reading for you. Hope it turns out well!
You'll be just fine! It's a great way to have your own little diary.of your trip because I've noticed, that once I get back home other things take priority and the next thing I know weeks have gone by and I don't get it finished or done, so I really enjoy doing it while I'm on the trip. I noticed the internet was the worst the first couple nights heading out, and the last couple nights heading back, in the same area. You'll be in a different area so hopefully it'll work better for you. I would still write what I wanted to write and then I could copy and paste it into the page once I was connected.

 

Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk

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following...and loving your review so far!! For me it would be a long haired calico curled up in the suitcase:D the dog is not a traveler and prefers to stay at home!! Have a wonderful cruise!!

 

Reigna gets car sick just riding the 5 minutes to the vet but she hates being left behind. And speaking of cats, I'll be leaving several, some of them long haired calicos (named Whitey, Bandit, Ying and Yang) in my DWs and DDs good and caring hands. My DD and I care for a colony of abandoned and feral cats that have all been TNR'd (except for a new guy, Fat Face, but he's been too mean to catch yet) and I'll also be missing them. :loudcry: Yes, I do name them. They're my friends and I hope I'm theirs too.

 

Thanks for following. :cool:

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Nice beginning. Thanks for inviting us along. DW and I did a South America cruise a couple of years ago from Buenos Aires to Santiago. It was a wonderful experience. Enjoy your trip. And your wife sounds like a saint.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Glad to have you along for the ride. Hope I'll be helping you with a walk down memory lane.

 

Yes, my wife is indeed a saint! :hearteyes:

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