Live from the Volendam - New England & Canada (May 25 to June 1)

[Rubyfisch]

Hey everyone - I'm getting ready to board the Volendam on Saturday for a New England and Canada cruise. It's our second on Holland America. The first was on Zuiderdam on basically the same route last August. Here is a link to that one. I've also been on five Royal Caribbean cruises as well.

 

I'm currently halfway to Boston from Heathrow and thought I would get started on this thread (as BA's inflight entertainment isn't that exciting).

[Rubyfisch]

Here is itinerary:

 

[Rubyfisch]

So we booked this cruise not that long ago - maybe February or so.  I'm just finishing up a very intense period at work (as is my partner, although she finished last week and I finished today), and really wanted to go on vacation. We live in Boston, and at first I was thinking of booking a Celebrity cruise out of Port Liberty, but my partner wasn't all that interested in Bermuda, so we ended up on Volendam.

[Rubyfisch]

Now, you may be asking yourself, why am I on a plane from Heathrow. Well, I've spent 27 of the last 45 days traveling for work, including two ten plus day trips to London. I figured I'd start my live earlier than I normally do both because I've got like four more hours home, and I because I spent a long time alone in London and kind of want to ramble about the handful of non-work things I did there, in case anyone has trips to London/Southampton any time soon. If you are only here for Canadian content - I'll get there shortly.

[Rubyfisch]

Volendam's current position:

 

 

My current position:

 

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 1: while I can't really recommend staying in the City of London (aka the glass and chrome land of banks and office buildings between St. Paul's and the Tower of London), I highly recommend doing a walking tour of it. I did two - one through London Walks (which cost £20) and one with London with a Local (which is a pay-what-you-wish tour). Frankly, I preferred the second one. Both were good, I'd recommend either, but for me, I prefer energy of the tours that are pay at the end. I could definitely people preferring the London Walks one though.

 

Tower of London:

 

 

St. Paul's:

 

 

I think this might be St. Mary-le-Bow, but I'm not 100% sure:

 

 

St. Dunstan in the East (a beautiful garden in the shell of a church destroyed during the Blitz):

 

 

The Lloyd's building:

 

 

The monument to the great fire:

 

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 2: Explore a less touristy neighborhood. I did a Sunday morning walking tour with London Walks in Hampstead Heathe. I don't really remember what any of these are pictures of, but I'm sure I was told.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zyc]

The pictures and tips for London are really interesting, looking forward to your posts.

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 3: this one is really specific to Sky Garden. You can get free tickets to visit it - I believe the release on Mondays at noon London time, three weeks in advance. And if you check them, you can get tickets. But there are a couple of non-free options I recommend if you'd like a quieter experience. Both involve breakfast. You can't get on the outdoor decks, but I didn't find that to be a great sacrifice.

 

First, for about £10, you can book a ticket that includes a coffee and a pastry. The coffee included lattes and the pastries were fine (like you'd get a Starbucks).

 

 

For probably two to three times as much, you can book breakfast at one of the restaurants there (Darwin's). The view is amazing - the food was decent. Note, this is a cheaper option than their brunch, and you can get in when the Garden is basically empty if you make the earliest reservations.

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

And here are some pictures from Skye Garden that aren't what I ate for breakfast on a Sunday morning (well, two separate Sundays, but still).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Have a great cruise.

[kazu]

Wishing you a Bon Voyage for your cruise on the Volendam.

 

We had great food and service on her a few weeks ago and I hope you do too.

 

thank you for the memories of London.  DD DH and i really enjoyed our time there - as pricey as it was 😉 

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 4: I love the museums in London. All of them. But if your time is limited (or your attention or your desire to deal with crowds, etc.), book a docent led tour. Some you have to pay for, some are free. I've done a bunch on previous trips to London. This time, I did the free tour at the British Museum that focused on LGBTQ themes. It was really delightful. But I've done bunch at the V&A in the past and those are great as well.

[Rubyfisch]

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

Wishing you a Bon Voyage for your cruise on the Volendam.

 

We had great food and service on her a few weeks ago and I hope you do too.

 

thank you for the memories of London.  DD DH and i really enjoyed our time there - as pricey as it was 😉 

London prices can be eye watering. The exchange right was quite favorable (it was £1.26 to the dollar). But things cost in pounds what I think the high end should be in dollars ....

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 5: eat Indian food. That's it, that is the whole tip.

 

This is from two different nights from a place off Bishopsgate in the City:

 

 

[quilty964]

Enjoy your cruise!  

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 6: leave London. One of the Saturdays I was in London, I did a small group tour of the Cotwolds with Go Tours. It was about £85, and left from Kensington.  It was a small group tour (16 people), where the bus driver told us some information on the bus, and then we were free to wander around the three villages we stopped in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Boston]

Thanks @Rubyfisch looking forward to following along.  My husband and I will be doing the reverse trip embarking in Montreal when you disembark.  We’ve sailed this itinerary once before and loved it.  A ten minute taxi and we’re home!

[Rubyfisch]

1 minute ago, Mr. Boston said:

Thanks @Rubyfisch looking forward to following along.  My husband and I will be doing the reverse trip embarking in Montreal when you disembark.  We’ve sailed this itinerary once before and loved it.  A ten minute taxi and we’re home!

I am looking forward to the T ride for embarkation. I was looking forward to the easy, breezy pre-embarkation not needing to fly anywhere, but the best laid plans of mice and men, you know ....

[DeeniEncinitas]

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Aloha Rubyfisch!

Have a wonderful cruise! Great Itinerary and love the Volendam.

Enjoyed your tips of London.

Mahalo,

Denise

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 7: super touristy, but do a walking tour of Westminster on a day they are doing a changing of the guard. It's quintessentially London. I went this past Sunday morning with London with a Local.

 

Trafalgar Square (with Canada House in the background ... I told you I'd get to some Canadian content eventually):

 

 

Royal Mall:

 

 

Changing of Guard at St. James's Palace (by the Royal Air Force):

 

 

Buckingham Palace:

 

 

Big Ben:

 

 

Westminster Abbey:

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 8: St. James's Park. Somehow, I had never been here despite being in London twice before on vacation. It's glorious in the forever dusk of a British spring day (some of these pictures are from the walking tour and some are from when I went back later).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Unsolicited London Tip # 9: see a show. Any show. I didn't have evening meetings a lot of nights, so I got a bunch of cheap single tickets to see different shows. If you don't care what you see or where you sit, and you are willing to walk up about a million stairs, you can get some good deals. My hot takes on what I saw (I'm going to save my favorite for it's own post). The pictures are from either before the cast took the state or during the finales when they allowed pictures.

 

Back to the Future - if you want a big, Broadway productions with singing and dancing and special effects, this would probably be my choice. I went to see it twice because I really liked it (and I could get £20 tickets ...).

 

 

Sister Act - this one was fun, and the crowd was pretty lively. 

 

 

 

Frozen - this was very Disney - amazing costumes and sets, high production value, etc. But I really don't get the story. I didn't get when I saw the movie, but it was on a plane, so I thought I was missing something. After seeing the musical, I think I just don't get it. But if you are Disney person, I can see it being a good time. And the tickets are a lot less expensive than The Lion King.

 

 

Mamma Mia - it's a lot of fun. But the cheap seats are really, really high up.

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

So my favorite show. You have to understand that I am not one to be particularly excited (particularly publicly) about anything. I'm in my late thirties. I'm boring. I like tea and books and bird watching and taking pictures. I was never really obsessed with any show or band or movie, and didn't really understand those who were. I am totally obsessed with one of the shows I saw, and I'm going to share my ridiculously fangirl embarrassment about it.

 

If you have the chance - go see Choir of Man. It's playing in London, it's one two Norwegian ships, it's finishing its run in Chicago but is coming back in the fall. Go see it. It's magic. There is so much power in it and so much fun. And so much energy.

 

So one of the amazing parts of it is that it is set in a pub, and the stage is an actual, functioning pub. You can go up on stage before the show and buy a pint of beer if stand on a West End stage, which is unreal.

 

So here is the stage and said pint of beer.

 

 

 

 

Even more amazing and meaningful is the actors come out and interact with the audience beforehand. I don't know what possessed me, but I decided I wanted a selfie with one of the actors. I hate having my picture taken. I don't think I've taken a selfie that wasn't for getting into a country or getting on to a cruise ship, but I decided I would ask. I was dying of embarrassment but pushed forward by the liquid courage of Carlsberg. I ran up to him and asked, and he of course said yes, because this is an eight times a week moment for him. And then I realized he had to be 6'6. I'm 5'5. I was trying to figure out how to work this out, and he basically got his knees to be on the same level. This is almost certainly the only picture me that will be in this review. But I wanted to share it because it meant the world to me.

 

 

I also may have very awkwardly told the lead actor how much the show meant to me separately ....

 

And they do let you take pictures and videos during the show, so here are a few more shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24 by Rubyfisch
Spacing

[Rubyfisch]

Okay - I think that catches me up to pretending this is a normal pre cruise flight. And I've just re-entered US airspace, so that is promising.