San Diego to Montreal in 134 Days

[richwmn]

February 29^th, 2024 – Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia

 

Our second stop in Tasmania is a tender port and only a short distance away. We are now in Port Arthur and tendering has begun. It is currently 72°F / 22°C outside under Overcast Skies. The winds are at almost 19mph and the humidity is 72%.

 

 

 

Yesterday was a good day in Hobart. It is a nice port city that has some place to visit within easy walking distance. There is also a HoHo bus, that I barely missed. It was a very nice day.

 

I managed to miss the 4pm trivia session, time just seemed to go by quickly and the next thing I knew it was after 5pm. The 7pm session was pictures of Landmarks to identify. My team did pretty well, 15 of 17, but two teams did better.

 

The World Stage show was a comedian, Geoff Boyz. He came out strong and was moderately funny. Like all performers, he asked where everyone was from and had a comment about each location. Geoff stated that he is from Scotland and had a couple of comments about that. In sum, he got some laughs, but has some room to improve for his second show.

 

 

Everything is going well this morning. Here are some scenes approaching this morning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by richwmn

[richwmn]

March 1^st, 2024 – At sea, destination Sydney, New South Wales, Australian

 

Good morning from Volendam. We are currently moving at about 17knots in a generally northern direction. We are due to arrive in Sydney tomorrow morning at 8am. We currently have clear skies with a temperature of 66°F / 19°C and humidity at 74%. The winds are a little over 19mph.

 

 

Today is our last day with Captain Bart Vaartjes. He has been aboard for the last two months and has been very approachable. He is out and around the ship most days and I have enjoyed his announcements. I was happy when he told me he would be the Captain of Westerdam when I board in September.

 

Yesterday was a good day. I didn’t go ashore, it was a long tender and a repeat port. It was very relaxing on the ship and I actually got quite a bit done. It was a beautiful day. We headed toward Sydney on time.

 

We did have two trivia sessions and both were fun. The early session we did well but didn’t win. The evening trivia was all about Holland America and we were the only team that managed to get all the questions right. Questions included the ‘theme’ of Zaandam, the oldest ship in the fleet, GodMother of Volendam, number of years sailing in Alaska, and many more. It was a lot of fun.

 

Dani was good to hurry the evening session because Captain Bart was scheduled for a farewell speech at 7:15, and we managed to make it. He gave a very nice speech thanking his staff, the crew, and the guests for making this a memorable cruise for him.

 

The World Stage entertainer last night was Chris Powley. On the schedule he is listed as a comedian, but his act was more as a singer, and a very good one at that. Like other singers that appear on the World Stage, he did do a bit of comedy. I would have liked a little more singing, but overall it was a good show.

 

 

Today will be a lazy day at sea, with plenty of activity scheduled. Here is the schedule of activities and meals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruising-along]

Rich we loved Chris Powley’s show last night, excellent! As you well know I’m very critical of any Neil Diamond impersonations, but his was the best I’ve ever heard anywhere. His other “legend” impersonations were excellent  too. 
We also thought he was much funnier than our comedian this week. 😉

[WriterOnDeck]

6 hours ago, richwmn said:

 

Today is our last day with Captain Bart Vaartjes. He has been aboard for the last two months and has been very approachable. He is out and around the ship most days and I have enjoyed his announcements. I was happy when he told me he would be the Captain of Westerdam when I board in September.

 

Sounds like you will be on Majestic Japan, Rich -- I'll look forward to sailing with you again!

[richwmn]

4 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Sounds like you will be on Majestic Japan, Rich -- I'll look forward to sailing with you again!

You are correct, It will be good to see you again as well.

[richwmn]

March 2^nd, 2024 – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (day 1)

 

So this morning we pulled into Sydney, passing the Opera House around 6am and under the bridge shortly after that. It has been a beautiful day in Sydney with the exception of some very scattered rain while I walked around.

 

 

So yesterday afternoon was nice. We had a total of three trivia sessions. The early, normal, general knowledge session was held at the sea day normal 1pm. We had a pretty good session. At 7pm we had the normal themed trivia, and the theme was ‘ABBA’. We had an interesting set of questions and again did well. Finally at 9pm we gathered in the Explorers Lounge to hear snips of Beatles songs and identify them. Along with quite a few others, we identified all the songs.

 

The entertainment last night on the World Stage was the second round of Geoff Boyz. He was not one of my favorites the first time but I gave him another chance. It didn’t start off well, and I didn’t stick around. Tonight the World Stage will have a movie.

 

This morning I had to spend with things going on at home, but I finally got out into Sydney around 11:30am. I got on the shuttle and we were off. I expected to be dropped off at the same place as last year, but I was a little disappointed. We were dropped of at Kings Warf rather than Darling Harbour. I did walk around a bit and it was very nice. The disappointment was mostly that the humidity was very high and it sprinkled a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s activities and menus --

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2 by richwmn

[richwmn]

March 3^nd, 2024 – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (day 2)

 

Good morning from day 2 in Sydney. It is another pretty day, we have had good weather most of this cruise. Azamara Onward left last night, so we are alone this morning.

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we had an interesting day. For various reasons I stayed on board until 11:30, then took the shuttle into town. This year the shuttle went to King Street Warf instead of Darling Harbour last year. While both locations had plenty to do within walking distance I think I prefer Darling Harbour. It has been an interesting day.

 

I made sure to be back on the ship in time to see the presentation by Gus Antorcha, president of HAL. Like last year on the World Cruise, he gave a good overview of where the company is and what is happening going forward. Our group didn’t have as many questions as the World Cruisers, both last year and this, so our session was shorter.

 

 

After an overnight, we are in Sydney for another day, leaving at around 4:30pm. That will give us another good day and there is still plenty to do. In just a couple of hours we will be able to have Australian tax we paid refunded. This is the first time I have spent enough to go get the refund so we will see how that goes.

 

Today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

March 4^th, 2024 – at sea destination Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

 

Good morning from a rocking and rolling Volendam. Last night the Captain mentioned that we would be having five foot swells while we crossed the Tasman Sea. The sea has lived up to its advance billing. We are currently sailing Southeast at 16 knots. The temperature is 64°F / 18°C under broken clouds. The wind is almost 30 mph and the humidity is 56%. The outside decks are locked off at the moment due to the wind and swells.

 

 

During our visit to Sydney we had a change in Captains, our current Captain is Rens Van Eerten, who has been with HAL for 30 years and at sea for 44. He lists his home as being Canada; California, US; and Canterbury, UK.

 

Something that I knew about before, but never participated in happened yesterday. Those of us who purchase items in port pay taxes that are sometimes refundable. I have never purchase enough to worry about it. On this trip I did. For most of the day, Australian Border Patrol had a desk set up where we could get the tax refunded. It started at 11:00am in the terminal building. Those who wanted a refund first met in the Atrium where we were told to make sure we had our passports (had to retrieve from main desk) and the items we had purchased. Then we proceeded off the ship and were processed. Since I only had one item it went very quickly. I then proceeded to get on the shuttle and go back into town. Later in the day they moved the desk to the ship and stopped requiring that we present the actual items.

 

Yesterday we had a very nice sailaway from Sydney, passing under the Harbour Bridge and getting a good view of the Sydney Opera House. No band was playing, but a good selection of music was being played over the PA system. A good crowd enjoyed the great weather and beautiful view.

 

 

The evening trivia was another round of logos. My group missed one and that was our downfall. One team got them all. The one we missed we discussed the right answer and decided that ours was correct but it wasn’t.

 

After trivia most of the team went directly to the World Stage for the second show of Rebecca Kelly. This show was a tribute to Carole King, and was very good. With more music than talk, Rebecca gave a good history of Carole and the music factory in New York of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.

 

 

After the show I called it a night knowing we had a time change, the first of two, of an hour forward to eventually match the time in New Zealand. The Kiwis use only one time zone so we won’t have another time change for almost two weeks!

 

This morning was a day to sleep in, so breakfast was a bit later than normal. It appears that we will continue to rock & roll for most of the day today. Today will be little movement and a lot of staying where we are.

 

The Captain is currently announcing that we will miss our scenic cruising in Milford Sound and will be going directly to Dunedin

 

Today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruising-along]

Rich are you sure you meant to say 5-foot swells? 😀

The broken glass in our cabin says otherwise. 😀😉

[richwmn]

5 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Rich are you sure you meant to say 5-foot swells? 😀

The broken glass in our cabin says otherwise. 😀😉

When he spoke yesterday he said 5 - 8 foot swells, his announcement this morning mentioned having had 18 foot swells.

BTW, you should have heard the water hitting the bow this morning around 2am, very loud bangs.

 

[durangoscots]

1 minute ago, richwmn said:

When he spoke yesterday he said 5 - 8 foot swells, his announcement this morning mentioned having had 18 foot swells.

BTW, you should have heard the water hitting the bow this morning around 2am, very loud bangs.

 

I heard it!!! And right now they are removing all glasses from the tables in the Lido. Or at least most of them.  There are still some on some tables. 

[Cruising-along]

2 hours ago, richwmn said:

When he spoke yesterday he said 5 - 8 foot swells, his announcement this morning mentioned having had 18 foot swells.

BTW, you should have heard the water hitting the bow this morning around 2am, very loud bangs.

 

Ok, I didn’t hear his announcement yesterday, just this morning 15-24-foot. 
What a ride!

[Kc52]

We are on the same cruise. The waves are quite high and have been like this last night and all day. Stage presenters took care today and at one point during a presentation, the stage curtains and other items were tied down. Also, we noticed that all hand sanitizer machines were tied to a railings. Many guests have mentioned that they are avoiding stair walking today and taking the elevators -wise decision for safety. The captain has deviated on course to provide some relief. This may continue into tomorrow, but is all part of cruising, especially through the Tasman Sea. This is a similar experience to cruising from South America to Antarctica, via the Drake Passage. 

 

Our cruise will now sail 3 sea days to Port Chalmers (Dunedin) as we cannot complete our Milford Sound cruise (we cannot achieve the speed we require to get there on schedule due to the rising seas). Daily programs have continued to be varied and interesting but everyone is looking forward to New Zealand. 

[Cruising-along]

We have now had to get broken glass cleaned up twice in our cabin. A friend, her chair and dishes all went flying in the Lido earlier. Thankfully she’s ok. 

[durangoscots]

4 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

We have now had to get broken glass cleaned up twice in our cabin. A friend, her chair and dishes all went flying in the Lido earlier. Thankfully she’s ok. 

In my cabin, one of the drawers keeps falling out. I expect a mess when I get back from dinner.  Hope all else is anchored down.8

[QuattroRomeo]

Yikes! Hope everyone can stay on their feet. Terra firma will feel pretty good I expect!

[St Pete Cruiser]

On 2/29/2024 at 11:37 PM, richwmn said:

March 1^st, 2024 – At sea, destination Sydney, New South Wales, Australian

 

Good morning from Volendam. We are currently moving at about 17knots in a generally northern direction. We are due to arrive in Sydney tomorrow morning at 8am. We currently have clear skies with a temperature of 66°F / 19°C and humidity at 74%. The winds are a little over 19mph.

 

 

Today is our last day with Captain Bart Vaartjes. He has been aboard for the last two months and has been very approachable. He is out and around the ship most days and I have enjoyed his announcements. I was happy when he told me he would be the Captain of Westerdam when I board in September.

 

Yesterday was a good day. I didn’t go ashore, it was a long tender and a repeat port. It was very relaxing on the ship and I actually got quite a bit done. It was a beautiful day. We headed toward Sydney on time.

 

We did have two trivia sessions and both were fun. The early session we did well but didn’t win. The evening trivia was all about Holland America and we were the only team that managed to get all the questions right. Questions included the ‘theme’ of Zaandam, the oldest ship in the fleet, GodMother of Volendam, number of years sailing in Alaska, and many more. It was a lot of fun.

 

Dani was good to hurry the evening session because Captain Bart was scheduled for a farewell speech at 7:15, and we managed to make it. He gave a very nice speech thanking his staff, the crew, and the guests for making this a memorable cruise for him.

 

The World Stage entertainer last night was Chris Powley. On the schedule he is listed as a comedian, but his act was more as a singer, and a very good one at that. Like other singers that appear on the World Stage, he did do a bit of comedy. I would have liked a little more singing, but overall it was a good show.

 

 

Today will be a lazy day at sea, with plenty of activity scheduled. Here is the schedule of activities and meals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't aware Captain Bart was on the Volendam. I'm glad to hear that as he was at Seabourn the last I heard. 

[richwmn]

10 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

I wasn't aware Captain Bart was on the Volendam. I'm glad to hear that as he was at Seabourn the last I heard. 

Capt Bart was on Volendam for about 2 months as a relief Captain. He will be on Westerdam in Sept/Oct for the Majestic Japan cruise beginning Sept 1

 

[richwmn]

March 5, 2024 – rocking and rolling on Volendam, destination Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

 

It is a bit later in the day than I usually make this post. Lots of reasons involved, but partially just being lazy. As many of you know, my cabin is all the way forward on the promenade deck. It took a while to fall asleep last night, but I did sleep soundly once I did. We also had another time change last night, but we won’t have another one for over a week when we leave New Zealand.

 

So, currently we are at sea heading for New Zealand. The sea is still very choppy, with large swells hitting the ship. The outer decks are still closed. We are moving southeast at 15 knots, still expecting to reach Port Chalmers on time Thursday. According to an announcement the seas should get smoother in a few hours. We currently have overcast skies with a temperature of 59°F / 15°C. The winds are 22mph and the humidity is 68%.

 

 

With the motion of the seas last night, the scheduled show on the World Stage was changed to a movie, and even though things were open, many people stayed in their cabins and relaxed. We did have two trivia sessions, but both had fewer participants than normal. The late trivia involved identifying national flags. Our team got 11/22 with the winning team only doing a little better with 12. With no show on the stage, I turned in early.

 

As mentioned, not many people are moving around on the ship this morning. Here are the scheduled activities and menus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

March 6, 2024 – at sea destination Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

 

Volendam is still steaming toward Port Chalmers, and the seas are still a bit rough. We had quite a bit reorganized yesterday but things are returning to normal. We are pretty much on time to reach Port Chalmers on schedule.

 

The ship is still heading Southeast, now at 16 knots. The temperature outside is 57°F / 14°C under overcast skies. The humidity is 79%, and the winds are a little under 17mph.

 

 

As I mentioned, last night’s schedule was rearranged a bit to account for the motion of the ship. The show last evening was replaced by another movie, the new release of “The Color Purple”, with one showing. We still had the Cocktail Piano Player, and Ocean Bar Band, along with both trivia sessions. The late trivia was supposed to cover the 1920’s to go along with the canceled ‘Gatsby’ night, but that got changed as well. The topic was facts about music, and we did well, losing by our typical 1 question.

 

The ship had settled enough that I had another good night’s sleep. The Lido this morning was still exercising care by not having anything other than utensils on the tables until someone sat there. There were only small stacks of dishes around the serving areas. Despite the extra work, everyone seemed to be taking things in stride.

 

Today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CGinMTL]

Do you have pics of the rough seas.

A few years Back, I was on azamera doing a transatlantic crossing.

Had we kept course, we would have been going though hurricane Ian

Captain took us as far south as he could

But since the cruise was ending in montreal, he did have to head back north to the mouth of the st Lawrence.

It was quite a ride

He kept saying , you know, captains get a bonus if they save fuel

" My bonus is long gone".

But what matters most is comfort and safety 

[Cruising-along]

10 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

Do you have pics of the rough seas.

A few years Back, I was on azamera doing a transatlantic crossing.

Had we kept course, we would have been going though hurricane Ian

Captain took us as far south as he could

But since the cruise was ending in montreal, he did have to head back north to the mouth of the st Lawrence.

It was quite a ride

He kept saying , you know, captains get a bonus if they save fuel

" My bonus is long gone".

But what matters most is comfort and safety 

Not Rich, but here’s a video DH took. 
 

 

 

 

[CGinMTL]

Thanks for sharing 

[richwmn]

March 7^th, 2024 -- Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

 

Good morning from New Zealand, we finally made it. After three rough days at sea, we are now berthed at Port Chalmers. The view from the aft pool deck this morning was gorgeous. We will be in New Zealand for about a week before heading back toward San Diego.

 

 

 

Last night we had the normal trivia schedule, with sessions in the afternoon and evening. Both sessions were good, with the late session having a theme of ‘TV Shows’. This was a description of a show and we were supposed to identify the show. We again tied for the lead with several other teams. The tie breaking question was ‘What year was the Guiness Book of World Records’ first published. The winning team hit it right on the nose with 1955. We were quite a bit off.

 

The schedule for yesterday lists Katie Clarke, a pianist, for the World Stage. I didn’t attend, and I’m not sure she played.

 

Last night the ship started the task of settling back into a normal routine. We had a Happy Hour with a free drink between 4pm and 5pm yesterday as compensation for missing Milford Sound. Everyone was out and about and having a good time. This morning the Lido was back to normal for breakfast.

 

Today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming into Port Chalmers this morning –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

March 8^th, 2024 – Timaru, New Zealand

 

It looks to be another pretty day in New Zealand. We have arrived and the ship is in the process of tying the lines and preparing for us to see the area.

 

 

 

Yesterday was a very pretty day in Port Chalmers. The temperature was good for a nice walk out in the city. As with other places, as soon as I stepped off the ship I recognized the area. The local people I talked to were all very nice and helpful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the ship I had a nice lunch, then proceeded to catch up on a few things. Time flew and I realized at 4:30 that I had missed the early trivia. The late trivia had a theme of ‘Capitals’. While on the surface, that may seem to be either state or national capitals that was not totally the case. One of the questions – what words have capital letters? Another was – Which city has a NHL team named the Capitals? Most of the rest were the capitals of countries, some a bit obscure.

 

The show last night was the Grand Repertory Company presenting ‘Boogie Wonderland’, a high energy song and dance routine. The group consists of a total of eight people. Four of the people, it seems, are solely dancers. There are a pair of lead singers, and a pair of backup singers – each male and female. The dancers are also split two male and two female. The lead singers each are very good and have a wide vocal range. All of the singers are also good dancers. The choice of songs was great, and the show moved quickly with no pauses.

 

 

The ride last night from Port Chalmers was very smooth. That made for a very good night’s sleep.

 

Today we have two shuttles to get us into Timaru. One will go to the information center in town, the other to Carolina Bay. Several people mentioned last night that this would be a beach day. The last shuttle will head to the ship at 5:00pm.

 

Today’s activities and menus –