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Live! The Grouch on the Noordam for 38 days to New Zealand, Sept. 30, 2018

whogo

By whogo,
in Holland America Line

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whogo

whogo

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Sunday, September 30 Vancouver, BC, Canada 4:00pm

Monday, October 1 At Sea

Tuesday, October 2 At Sea

Wednesday, October 3 At Sea

Thursday, October 4 At Sea

Friday, October 5 At Sea

Saturday, October 6 Honolulu, Oahu, HI 7:00am

Sunday, October 7 Honolulu, Oahu, HI 5:00pm

Monday, October 8 Kona, Hawaii, HI 8:00am 5:00pm

Tuesday, October 9 At Sea

Wednesday, October 10 Cross International Dateline (Cruising)

Thursday, October 11 At Sea

Friday, October 12 At Sea

Saturday, October 13 At Sea

Sunday, October 14 At Sea

Monday, October 15 Apia, Samoa 8:00am 5:00pm

Tuesday, October 16 At Sea

Wednesday, October 17 Suva, Fiji 8:00am Midnight

Thursday, October 18 Dravuni Island, Fiji 8:00am 5:00pm

Friday, October 19 Lautoka, Fiji 8:00am 5:00pm

Saturday, October 20 At Sea

Sunday, October 21 Lifou, New Caledonia 8:00am 5:00pm

Monday, October 22 Mare, New Caledonia 7:00am 2:00pm

Tuesday, October 23 At Sea

Wednesday, October 24 At Sea

Thursday, October 25 Sydney, Australia 7:00am 6:30pm

Friday, October 26 At Sea

Saturday, October 27 Melbourne, Australia 8:00am Midnight

Sunday, October 28 At Sea

Monday, October 29 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 8:00am 11:00pm

Tuesday, October 30 At Sea

Wednesday, October 31 At Sea

Thursday, November 1 Milford Sound, New Zealand (Cruising)

Friday, November 2 Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand 9:00am 6:00pm

Saturday, November 3 Akaroa, New Zealand 8:00am 6:00pm

Sunday, November 4 Picton, New Zealand 10:00am 8:00pm

Monday, November 5 Wellington, New Zealand 8:00am 4:00pm

Tuesday, November 6 Napier, New Zealand 7:00am 2:00pm

Wednesday, November 7 Tauranga, New Zealand 9:00am 6:00pm

Thursday, November 8 Auckland, New Zealand 7:00am

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whogo

whogo

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Sunday, September 30, 2018

 

Don't expect great prose, at best I write simple, declarative sentences. Don't expect this to sound like cruise line marketing either, I will dish the dirt as needed and embellish for comedic effect. I won't post photos, and won't visit the casino, shops, religious services, or the spa, and will not attend Tanzanite, acupuncture, or aroma therapy seminars You might as well quit reading now.

I woke up before 4:00 AM for our early flight. 4:00 AM is a more interesting time at the tail end of a great night out than at the start of a long travel day.

 

We scheduled our flight to arrive on the day of the cruise against the long standing advice of Cruise Critic members who recommend arriving a day early. Or two days early, or three days early. In a further disregard of advice we only have 59 months left on our passports. What if an accident or illness keeps me in a foreign country until my passport expires? What will we do? How will we cope?

 

Flights were trouble free, Delta seats were less cramped than I expected. Forty-five minute wait for Canadian immigration before we could fiddle with an automated machine to read our passports, quiz us, and take our photos before we could present our passports to a real person. The taxi queue was another forty-five minute wait. Arrived at Canada Place Ship Terminal to another queue for US Customs, but by-passed the automated machines to present our passports to a real person, because they didn't have anything to do while people were tying to figure out the automated machines.

 

The Holland America boarding process was an absolute delight in comparison to immigration procedures. No wait, the staffer who took my security photo kept telling me how great I looked, the little flirt.

 

We have a tender view cabin. Nice, big, floor-to-ceiling window gives and excellent view of a tender. That is a lot of orange. Standing on tiptoe, I can see some Canadian landscape over it. Mrs. Whogo is not as tall. She sees lots of orange.

 

Muster drill was amusing. At 3:30 first announcement, passengers are to do nothing, but at that point I saw a couple of passengers already at their muster stations with life vests on. At 3:40 we went to our cabin as directed, at 3:50 we wended our way to our muster station without our life jackets as directed. Our cruise cards were scanned, yet our cabin number and many others were called, maybe the crew was practicing reading cabin numbers. It appeared that some of our fellow cruisers do not yet know their cabin numbers. We were dismissed at 4:10 or forty minutes from start to finish. It wasn't raining or hot, not a bad muster drill, beats the time spent in airplanes and airports.

 

I don't remember unpacking being such a hassle, should have waited for Mrs. W to finish before I started.

 

Assistant cruise director Erica ran an excellent trivia contest in the Crow's Nest at 7:00, good voice, good control of the room. We lost, missed 2 out of 16, the smart team had all correct.

 

Good, open seating table mates, a table for ten is too big, never said a word to the couple at the far end of the oval table. Lots of mistaken orders, it took more than an hour for the first entrees to arrive. Lost again at dinner, diablo shrimp was the winning meal, I had the short ribs.

 

Cruise director Jai welcomed us with a short performance by the singers and dancers and introduced his staff of four; the windows maven, America's test kitchen woman, assistant cruise director Erika, and the excursions woman. We have two guest lecturers aboard (kudos, HAL) and at least one Hawaii ambassador. Anyone expecting ring toss games and horse racing is likely to be disappointed.

 

We listened to Diane in the piano bar, she played requests, we heard Cole Porter and Billy Joel and I plan to return. We forgot all about B.B. King's Blues Club and called it quits after a twenty hour day.

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erewhon Holiday Sharing Rare

erewhon

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Great start to your blog.

We have seen folk arrive at the passenger safety drill wearing life jackets when they have been told not to.

Enjoy all the sea days, we like all the sea days during the Trans Pacific cruises.

Have a wonderful cruise

Are you staying on to do a land tour when you disembark in Auckland?

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NSWP

NSWP

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Good of you to do a 'Live' from Noordam.' Looking forward to your posts as we are on Noordam, Sydney to Honolulu in April next year - first time on HAL.

 

Safe cruising to you and enjoy the 'orange' view. :cool:

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Dogstar

Dogstar

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... the staffer who took my security photo kept telling me how great I looked, the little flirt ...

 

We have a tender view cabin. Nice, big, floor-to-ceiling window gives and excellent view of a tender. That is a lot of orange ...

 

Muster drill was amusing. At 3:30 first announcement, passengers are to do nothing, but at that point I saw a couple of passengers already at their muster stations with life vests on ...

 

I don't remember unpacking being such a hassle, should have waited for Mrs. W to finish before I started ...

 

Too funny !!! 🤣

 

Definitely following. Have a great cruise adventure.

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whogo

whogo

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Monday, October 1, 2018, At Sea headed towards Hawaii

 

I planned to sleep in this morning. Didn't. I was out on the promenade deck at 5:45 to entertain the hose guys. The back railing of the promenade looks right out over the water, it is a weird feeling to look down at the churning wake.

 

Noordam seems huge after sailing on the Veendam and Prinsendam, it is surprising what a long walk it is from one end to the other and remember that I can't use the elevators while Mrs. W is around. I have been avoiding her. The next activity is always at the far end of the ship.

 

Lazy day at sea. We had a nice meet and greet in the Crow's Nest at 10:00, well shepherded by Paula. It was obvious she was a school teacher, she did not have to confess it.

 

Went to the EXC (hate the name, but Holland America might pay me for mentioning it) talk “Geology is a Real Science: Don't Believe Sheldon”. Had to go, I'd met Phil, the lecturer. Good talk on geologic disasters; volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. I was so comfortable with the topic that I fell asleep. That's embarrassing, I have become the old guy that falls asleep during the lectures.

 

We try not to buy anything that displays a logo. My wife failed spectacularly. Her shoe has the New Balance (maybe New Balance will pay me for the mention) logo on the tip, at the base of the shoestring, at the top of the tongue, on the right side, on the left side, on the bottom, and at the heel. Seven logos on each shoe, fourteen logos on the pair. She is a walking billboard for New Balance and will come afoul of section 11 of the Holland America cruise contract: “You shall not solicit other Guests for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services without Carrier's prior written permission...” We will see how this plays out. This may become a solo cruise for me.

 

Lido lunch was a challenge, long wait for a couple of slices of lamb. The server told one guy that the line formed behind me, did not tell the other half dozen that cut in front. I got a kick out of a broken “no touch” water dispenser. A staff member told me it was broken. I watched other cruisers try to get it to work. I saw a staff member try to fill a water pitcher there. Nobody thought to mark it out of order. Maybe the “Out of Order” sign making machine is out of order. Waiting in lines, trying to find a table, getting up to fetch what you forgot, getting up to fetch what your wife forgot, is not the way to enjoy a relaxing meal.

 

I spent most of the afternoon reading, heard some foreign languages, hope to hear a break down of the nationalities onboard. Took my first ride on one of the little used glass elevators this afternoon. Whee!

 

Dinner was a more polished affair tonight, excellent error free service, still took about two hours. Mrs. Whogo ordered me to work on this blog while she went to the early show by Unique3, “Blending three unique voices into one beautiful sound they bring joy and nostalgia to those who have a passion for all types of music.”

 

I attended the late show, one singer did not match the blond pictured on the When and Where program, fortunately there was a spare Unique voice available. I wonder how many Unique3 groups there are.

 

I did not quite close out the piano bar, left at 12:30.

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whogo

whogo

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Tuesday, October 2, 2018, headed towards Hawaii

 

Thanks for the good wishes, good to know people are following along.

 

On deck early again for a relaxing day at sea. Calm breakfast in the dining room and I relaxed until I took time to book an independent tour online. My credit card was declined. The front desk was kind enough to offer a complimentary call to my card provider, but I could do without the faffing about. Enjoyed a relaxing day at sea until I found the form to fill out and show that we had our electronic visas for Australia. Mrs. Whogo's documentation is safe in her computer. At home. Inaccessible from the Pacific Ocean. More faffing about. Holland America gave no indication that we should bring documentation of an electronic visa. If Mrs. Whogo is put off the ship in New Caledonia, she will fend for herself and I will continue the cruise and use the elevator whenever I want.

 

While I faffed, Mrs. Whogo relaxed, learned how to make fluffy omelets and blueberry pancakes at America's test kitchen. She claimed they stole her blueberry pancake recipe.

 

Lunch of fish and chips for me, beef barbacoa for her at a table for two in the dining room. Fun Australian teammates and a beer for afternoon happy hour trivia in the Crow's Nest, did admirably, missed three, couldn't beat the team with a perfect score.

 

At 5:35 we were headed southwest at 18kts, course 227°, position 40°55.22' N, 138°10.75 W. Relative wind was 25 kts from two o'clock, a sailor would probably phrase that differently.

 

Gala night dinner, good conversation and surf and turf made for an excellent meal. Mrs. Whogo looked lovely, I looked adequate. Those who care can grit their teeth about my wearing a sport coat and tie instead of a dinner jacket. To further raise your blood pressure our first dinner table mate wore a tee shirt, this morning's breakfast mate wore a ball cap and tee shirt in the dining room.

 

Arrived late for 1980's music trivia, joined a team of young people who tied for first. It was all the young folks' doing, I contributed nothing and did not claim any part of the victory. Ended the night with a peek in the showroom, a couple of songs in the piano bar and couple more at B.B. King's, my first visit there.

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Alphen "Live from...." Rare

Alphen

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Really appreciate the lively, humorous and lighter side of cruising type of report, enjoying reading in preparation of our own Noordam adventure in a couple of weeks’ time.

 

Thank you for your entertaining way of giving us an inside look of Noordam, looking forward to following editions.

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