Seeking the Eclipse on Zaandam!

[CruiserBruce]

11 minutes ago, bajae said:

Do you know if the Captain is planning on shutting off the ship lights? 

 

Yes, he said he would.

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

11:06

So excited for you. I think that would be amazing to witness on a ship at sea.

I like there's a Plan A and a Plan B and a lot of creative flexibility involved to ensure passengers have the best experience. 😊

[Haljo1935]

On 4/6/2024 at 12:51 PM, cruisn71 said:

For this cruise the K'dam departed right at 5 pm.

Hmm - post #36 has it considerably later,  unless I've got messages mixed up.

Edited April 8 by Haljo1935
Add pic

[CruiserBruce]

@Haljo1935, my post was about KDam's departure from San Diego on March 30. @cruisn71 post was about April 5th KDam sailing.

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

@Haljo1935, my post was about KDam's departure from San Diego on March 30. @cruisn71 post was about April 5th KDam sailing.

Makes sense - thank you.

[dchip]

Mazatlan, Mexico. On our TV. Enjoy everyone on this amazing cruise.  

[CruiserBruce]

The Eclipse was fan-freaking-tastic....everything you could wish for. The Captain and Mother Nature were perfect. Tons to report on, but battery is low, and internet is straining. More later!

[Mary229]

Just putting this out there. The clouds parted for precisely the right 10 minutes in Tyler Texas.  Corona was visible with flares. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

We are in Zanizbar.  Watching NASA TV

 

did everyone on the Zandamn get a view spot?  

 

 

[Haljo1935]

18 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

The Eclipse was fan-freaking-tastic....everything you could wish for. The Captain and Mother Nature were perfect. Tons to report on, but battery is low, and internet is straining. More later!

YAY!!

[Haljo1935]

5 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Just putting this out there. The clouds parted for precisely the right 10 minutes in Tyler Texas.  Corona was visible with flares. 

It was perfect in my front yard 🙂

[Haljo1935]

22 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

We are in Zanizbar.  Watching NASA TV

 

did everyone on the Zandamn get a view spot?  

 

 

I've been watching the NASA Live site for hours, it's great! They're providing terrific coverage.

Carbondale IL:

Texas:

Edited April 8 by Haljo1935
Photo

[CruiserBruce]

29 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Just putting this out there. The clouds parted for precisely the right 10 minutes in Tyler Texas.  Corona was visible with flares. 

Agree. Corona and flare visible to the naked eyes, and in great detail with binoculars. Also, Jupiter and Venus clearly visible adjacent to the moon/sun.

[*Miss G*]

Thanks for the reports, @CruiserBruce!  I am hoping someone will post pics from the ship.  I enjoyed watching the eclipse across North America and seeing 90% totality here.  The birds all went to bed!

[CruiserBruce]

24 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

We are in Zanizbar.  Watching NASA TV

 

did everyone on the Zandamn get a view spot?  

 

 

Yes, believe it or not, there was lots of room on open decks. Not enough chairs, tho. That was probably the toughest part...chairs were being brought from the Lido pool, and from the Lido dining room. Still not enough chairs. But space was definitely not a problem. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I think the next one is off Iceland in August 2026.     Should be another cruise opportunity 

[CruiserBruce]

A quick points while the internet is working better.

 

As promised by the Captain, we needed to be flexible. We arrived at the desired spot around 5am, but there was nothing but clouds ahead. So we reversed course and sailed on the reverse bearing ( to the southwest) for about 3 hours. That caused Mazatlan to be canceled. We saw the two Princess ships and Koningsdam doing the same on AIS. Then just after 9, the Captain came on the speaker,  explained what we had done, and said we would be reversing again, back to the designated course for the maximum Eclipse exposure. We soon began turning, and saw the other ships, which were visible,  barely, on the port side, do the same thing.

 

The change in location meant all steps in the process started 3 to 5 minutes earlier,  otherwise, just amazing.  Totality was truly impressive,  but I have to say the Diamond Ring was even more impressive.

 

More later.

[Mary229]

18 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I think the next one is off Iceland in August 2026.     Should be another cruise opportunity 

My university was handing out glasses like candy - I grabbed a bunch 

[*Miss G*]

49 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I think the next one is off Iceland in August 2026.     Should be another cruise opportunity 

 

Here’s the schedule.  The South Pacific sounds good to me!

 

[geocruiser]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

It was perfect in my front yard 🙂

Mine too.  It got so dark.

[Loreto]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

A quick points while the internet is working better.

 

As promised by the Captain, we needed to be flexible. We arrived at the desired spot around 5am, but there was nothing but clouds ahead. So we reversed course and sailed on the reverse bearing ( to the southwest) for about 3 hours. That caused Mazatlan to be canceled. We saw the two Princess ships and Koningsdam doing the same on AIS. Then just after 9, the Captain came on the speaker,  explained what we had done, and said we would be reversing again, back to the designated course for the maximum Eclipse exposure. We soon began turning, and saw the other ships, which were visible,  barely, on the port side, do the same thing.

 

The change in location meant all steps in the process started 3 to 5 minutes earlier,  otherwise, just amazing.  Totality was truly impressive,  but I have to say the Diamond Ring was even more impressive.

 

More later.

Our experience on the Zaandam was great today!  Many thanks to the first time HAL cruisers who shared the 2 unused chairs at their table😀!  I was surprised that there was a lot of open deck space, but not enough chairs.  I don't know how many people used the bow, but the lido pool area was a perfect spot.

[CruiserBruce]

Observations and bon mots, Eclipse edition....

 

Overall, everything went exceptionally well today. The crew hustled their butts off helping people move around, and getting chairs and other things positioned, serving drinks, etc.. Unfortunately,  everyone wanted to be on the aft pool deck...if a few more went to the 9th deck, it would have been good. The bow was open, and probably not a bad space...don't know how it was used. The 6th deck forward was also open, but I suspect it would not have been as good a spot for the entire process, but not sure. The midship Lido Pool area was underused, IMO.

 

Saw many crew being allowed a few minutes here and there to see the events. We happened to be on a main path, and several of the crew we regularly interact with stood with us at various times. I hope they got as much out of the experience,  even if somewhat limited.

 

Then there was the massive chair return effort, took a while...

 

One clunker...overnight was a time change...but not all the clocks were switched remotely. So I ended up getting up an hour early...causing DW to get up early...it all worked out OK, we had great seats, but our cabin clock, and several others around the ship are still incorrect, and not, as you might expect,  by one hour. Ours is off by 45 minutes!

 

No sign of any sort of HAL Eclipse tee shirt, or similar. Sort of disappointing. They did have two Eclipse drinks, and the free Eclipse glasses were HAL logo...but we have OBC to burn!!!

 

A truly memorable day. Of course the Eclipse will always be a super special memory. It is hard to describe,  but it is such a unique thing, particularly the totality,  the Ring of Fire, and the Diamond Ring. Tom Vassos added incredible value to the experience...I am sure we would have missed so much had we not attended his lectures. The science of it all, and Mother Nature, is beyond comprehension. An amazing,  amazing day.

 

[Mary229]

7 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

One clunker...overnight was a time change...but not all the clocks were switched remotely.

Make sure to leave a comment in the post cruise survey that they need to a a prominent ship time clock in the app but early is better than late.  
 

I was hesitant to drive out to the lake this morning but indeed like you I am glad to have seen this natural event.  
 

The OBC is always an issue.  Enjoy whatever you decide - maybe some chocolate covered strawberries and flowers for the wife?!

[cccole]

I'm so happy that the view was good from the ship.  What a great experience.  Luckily it was not too early in the a.m so the clock problem was not too much of an inconvenience.  We watched on CNN until @10 a.m. PST time so missed the total eclipse around Mazatlan.  We had a 40% eclipse here but it was awesome.  Our library ran out of glasses but friends shared.  So nice that the crew was also able to enjoy this event.  Possibly HAL did not have eclipse t shirts because there was a chance that clouds would interfer with the experience and no one would want the t-shirts.   I'm sure some are already looking at cruises around Iceland and Greenland in 2026.  Thank you so much for your posts.  Cherie

[bajae]

4 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I think the next one is off Iceland in August 2026.     Should be another cruise opportunity 

Just read that Holland is planning on three sailing in Europe to align with the path. 

 

https://www.aol.com/news/ship-move-why-watch-future-191407387.html