Our Last Sea Day

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

A sad day...tomorrow our cruise will come to an end. 😢

With no notes and few photos, I don't have much to go on for details of this day. I do know more time was spent in the cabin packing than what I would have liked. Also I think we were probably in the gift shops more than once trying to use up that last little bit of onboard credit. So how did we spend our credits on this cruise?

Usually our daily gratuities come out of our onboard credit, but thanks to a Black Friday special, our tips were covered. We had calculated our spending well because at the end of the cruise we had less than a dollar left of the non-refundable credits. And we actually got a little bit refunded to our credit card from adjusted port fees.

These t-shirts were 2/$30 but with our HAL Mariner discount we paid $27.

This isn't the greatest photo, but the blanket is large and very soft. 

Blue Opal Ring

When we weren't packing, we did spend some time on "our private deck" enjoying the scenic views on a beautiful day! Our cabin location really did work out well for the four of us. A standard balcony would have been too small for all us to enjoy together but this aft deck had plenty of room, gave us a fabulous view from the back of the ship AND was just steps from our economical ocean view cabins!

Our waiter for this part of our cruise, Wijaya, was especially personable and we had a great time with him each evening at dinner. Even though our dining time was a touch too early, I much preferred having a fixed dining time with the same wait staff each evening.

Jon being weird.

I was so happy to see that the sweet & sour shrimp was on the menu for our last night. Bob had ordered this on our Koningsdam cruise on the night I paid the surcharge to get lobster and I thought it was better than the lobster! I made sure to order the shrimp this time!

Another crew member that made our cruise a little more fun was JonJon, the ice cream man at the lido buffet. We usually played cards at the same table each evening which was right by the ice cream station. JonJon was one of those guys that in spite of the long hours he worked was always happy and so friendly! (We gave him a hard time though because the ice cream wasn't available later in the evening!)

And while I am on the subject of crew members, one day we ran into a waiter that we had in 2019 on our 22-day Zaandam Antarctica cruise...Zulfin! He was delivering room service to a cabin in our hallway and I did a double-take when I saw him. He didn't remember us and wasn't even sure he had been on the Zaandam in 2019. We saw him another time or two and Bob was able to get his photo. I know these guys must meet so many people and switch from ship to ship so I understand how they can't remember. (I had hundreds of students over my career and I mostly remember the trouble makers or the extra special ones. Average kids tend to be forgotten just like average passengers do on a ship.)

Zulfin in 2019

 

Ifin (according to his nametag) in 2024

                     
A beautiful sunset to end our last day...

Sea Day - April 29

Monday, April 29, 2024

This sea day turned out to be somewhat unique. The daily activities offered on the ship certainly weren't anything different. The list was almost identical to what we had seen four days prior on our last sea day. Just some examples of what was available...

• Coffee with CD Stone (yes, we were surprised that a new cruise director, Stone, appeared at the beginning of this four day cruise segment to replace Erin!)
• Adventures with Water Color (Rose would be repeating her same directions word for word)
• A City on the Sea (the same presentation we had just seen showing how all of the different departments function on the ship)
• The Art of Flower Arranging (been there, done that)
• Cake Me Away (same cakes, same "no sugar added" layers of fluff)
• Origin Story (only difference is this time it was offered in the middle of the afternoon instead of as the main evening entertainment)

Based on this list, I don't remember anything that we did that morning. And from the following photo, I think the four of us parked ourselves on "our private deck" like a bunch of senior citizens (which we are!) and just enjoyed the journey. 

This photo was taken at 9:30 am. What an energetic bunch! 😄

This is the view looking across "our private deck". The outdoor stairway leads up to the Lido Deck (so handy!!) or down to a slightly larger public deck below on deck 6.

So what was different? With rough seas in the forecast on our way to Seattle, the captain put his foot on the gas peddle and made it to the protected waters between Vancouver Island and the mainland MUCH earlier than planned. That meant we had to then slow down and kill time otherwise we were going to arrive in Seattle far too early. 

Lunchtime at the buffet. Another "Cake Me Away" extravaganza!

Looking out the window at lunch we saw a pilot boat come alongside the Zaandam. 

Why a pilot on a sea day? Because the captain parked the ship off of the coast near the city of Port Angeles and dropped anchor. There we sat for hours. 

Photo from: OnTheWorldMap.com

Because of the long breakwater, the Zaandam sat peacefully in the water all afternoon rather than rocking and rolling in the rough seas. Someone on our cruise Facebook group jokingly suggested that passengers should demand tenders to visit Port Angeles since we were so close.

Bob, Jon and Michelle took advantage of the stable ship and played pickleball in the afternoon (or at least until the wind picked up.) 

After dinner we enjoyed another performance from Mark Donoghue. From The Daily newsletter: Multi-Instrumentalist, vocalist, arranger and composer Mark Donoghue brings a fresh, modern edge to his own original interpretations of rock and pop classics.

And if the Cake Me Away extravaganza at lunch wasn't enough sugar for one day, the evening ended with the Chocolate Surprise. We sat and listened to the guitar soloist (sorry didn't get her name) in The Mix bar and then at 9:30 the waiters came rushing through with trays of several different kinds of chocolate treats...chocolate covered raisins, chocolate almonds, chocolate rice krispy treats, etc. They came in several different waves and there was no shortage of the chocolate goodies.

Sea Day April 25

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Looking back through the photos I took on this sea day tells me it was a pretty low key day. In other words...very few pictures!

I'm pretty sure that we had a long drawn out breakfast in the buffet. It was so easy to just keep getting coffee refills while we sat and chatted with Jon & Michelle. My ideal cruise would have port days and sea days alternate one after another. Or maybe even two sea days for every port! 

I "think" (that is going to be the theme of this post) that we all went to the Queen's Room at 9:30 for "Adventures with Water Color". Jon wasn't keen on the idea, but succumbed to peer pressure and joined the group. Although no real instruction takes place, the watercolor sessions on our Koningsdam were enough to get Bob and I interested. Since that cruise Bob even ordered us brushes and paint so we can begin our careers as watercolor artists! 😆

Rose, who was in charge of arts and crafts on the ship, was a cute young gal, but admitted she wasn't an artist. She had a degree in set design and from what we observed, her main job description was to pass out supplies and keep the brushes clean. When we attended another watercolor session later in the cruise we realized that her "lecture" was repeated word for word from our initial "class". I got the impression she could have done the class in her sleep.

The art session only lasts 45 minutes which is frustrating with watercolor since drying time is often needed as you paint. The four of us each managed to more or less finish a masterpiece in spite of the ship rocking and rolling. We had to give Jon a hard time following the class. When we complimented him on the volcano that he had painted we learned that it was supposed to be a mermaid! 😂

Some of our watercolor paintings we did on the ship...

Instead of eating at the buffet, we had lunch at the Dive In and sat next to the indoor pool on the Lido deck while we ate. I believe that all classes of HAL ships have the Dive In where you can get burgers, hotdogs, fries, etc. But on the Zaandam there is also a self-serve taco bar available too. Who doesn't love a plate of nachos! It is hard to tell, but the motion of the ship was causing a lot of wave action in the pool!

The waves in the pool were much larger than what they appear on this photo.

Today was the "Cake Me Away' event at the noon buffet so we had to wander in there to check it out. I've noticed almost all of the sugar free desserts served by HAL are just "fluff" and the sugar free cakes were no different. The no-sugar-added Neapolitan cake was just different colored layers of fluff masquerading as a cake! 

The Neapolitan Cake...no sugar added.

The rest of the cakes looked yummy though. If sugar and carbs weren't from the devil I would have had a big slab of carrot cake! (Kidding aside, I am borderline diabetic and try to be careful in my choices.)

The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur although I would bet money that Bob and Jon played pickleball. There was always a movie offered on sea day afternoons in the Wajang Theater. Sometimes the title tempted me, but I know I wouldn't be able to stay awake in a dark theater in the middle of the afternoon.

After our "dressy night" dinner in the main dining room the four of us went to the theater a little early for the dance show: In Tandem. This is one dance show that has managed to get cancelled on our previous cruises so we were looking forward to seeing it performed.  I prefer to sit in the balcony for shows on the Main Stage. But for dance shows, Bob likes to be on the floor front and center so we went extra early to get seats. The time goes by fairly quickly as we visit and play games on our phones while we wait. 

When it was time for the show to begin, CD Erin came out and announced that the seas were too rough for the dancers to perform safely. Instead the dance group was just going to do a Q & A session with the audience. It is somewhat interesting to hear where the dancers are from and a little about their backgrounds, but it is not even close to qualifying as the evening entertainment. On the Koningsdam in February, the same thing happened but they just had the comedian switch nights and do a show on short notice. So for the record, we have still not seen "In Tandem."

Sea Day, April 22

 Monday, April 22, 2024

Each morning we would meet up with Jon and Michelle at the buffet for breakfast. The chat feature on the HAL Navigator app worked pretty well so we were able to connect and find each other pretty easily. Even without the app, the small size of the Zaandam meant a quick trip down each side of the buffet was all it took to find each other.

Breakfast in the buffet. 

At home Bob and I are set in our ways when it comes to breakfast. He has a bowl of oatmeal and I have two eggs and a piece of toast. You would think we would take advantage of so many breakfast choices when we are sailing, but we don't. Bob still has his bowl of oatmeal although he has a wider choice of toppings. Finding pecans to add to the oatmeal was a real treat. For me, the only change was to have poached eggs on an English muffin. On a few days I really splurged and had them put a small amount of hollandaise sauce on top!

At morning, the poached egg station was located where the Asian food is served for lunch and dinner. Besides eggs I could get cut up fruit and a choice of several kinds of sausages if I wanted without standing in separate lines. In addition, congee was available at this same spot. There were many people of Asian descent on our cruise and I found it fascinating to watch them order the rice porridge and then pick and choose from all of the unique toppings. Interesting to see, but I never had the urge to try congee. 

"The Daily", as HAL calls their newsletter, was full of activities to keep busy on the sea day. Most all of the offerings were ones we had seen just a few months earlier when we were on the Koningsdam. The Navigator App also has the same daily schedule where you can select the activities you would like to attend and then the app will alert you 10 to 15 minutes prior. Or at least most of the time that is what happened. Sometimes an alert would pop up hours after the activity had taken place!

On cruises, I enjoy attending the morning coffee with the cruise director. It is fun to get to know a little about the different staff members or entertainers when the cruise director interviews them about their role on the ship. "Coffee with Erin" was scheduled at 9:00 and I fully intended to go, but we lingered over breakfast so long, that I just didn't make it. Neither did I attend the lecture on "The World Up Close: Catching Waves" (the story of surfing) that was presented on the World Stage at 10:00. 

Michelle and I did meet back up at 11:00 in the Explorer's Lounge for the "Art of Flower Arranging". HAL is known for their elaborate fresh flower arrangements around their ships and on the Zaandam a single person was in charge of handling all of the flowers. The ship florist explained the process of putting different types of bouquets together and used the most beautiful flowers in his demonstration. I kept wishing they would give out samples or use the bouquet as a door prize!

Michelle and I were sure this bouquet would never fit into that vase...but it did!

After lunch I watched Bob, John and Michelle play some pickleball. The sport gives Bob a chance to meet others on the ship. This time the three of them got to know a Canadian couple (originally from Russia) who were just learning to play pickleball. The wife didn't quite understand and somehow got the idea that Jon was Michelle's son. Michelle is a couple of years older than Jon, but no where near old enough to be his mom! That became a running joke throughout the cruise with Jon often referring to Michelle as "mom"! 

The pickleball court on the top deck was plagued by wind.

While the three continued their game, I went back to the cabin to get ready for dressy night...so much easier to do when I am alone than when the two of us bump into each other trying to access the bathroom, closets, etc. And besides...Bob could shower, dress and be ready in about 10 minutes total!

Before the Step One Dance Company presented their program "Humanity" on the World Stage, free drinks were provided and Captain Ane Jan Smit and other ranking officers welcomed the passengers to the theater with a toast.

Cruise Director, Erin

Captain Ane Jan Smit

In the beginning days of the pandemic, the Zaandam was forefront in the news and I followed all of the reports. We had sailed on the Zaandam with Captain Smit in 2018 through the Panama Canal and he was again at the helm as hundreds of passengers came down with the new mystery illness (Covid) in South America in early 2020. The book "Cabin Fever" chronicles the saga as the ship was denied entrance into country after country all while people onboard were dying. A fascinating read and even more so because we were so familiar with the ship. By the end of this current cruise we had spent a total of 77 nights on the Zaandam. 

 

Some card playing and then time for bed. Early tomorrow morning the Zaandam would be pulling into San Francisco for a two-day stay!

Ensenada

Friday, February 16, 2024

The ship docked at Ensenada as we were having breakfast in the buffet and we had a nice view from the window. After eating, we went back to our cabin and had an even better view from our balcony including the enormous Mexican flag that Ensenada is know for. 

At 9:30 the ship was cleared for passengers to disembark and Bob decided he would take a walk through town. My knee might have been slightly better, but not much. And maybe that was just wishful thinking. I knew I would be smart to stay off of it as much as possible before our long travel day tomorrow. I even went on the Delta Airlines website and requested assistance getting to the gate at the airport.

After Bob left, the crew went through lifeboat drills. With a cabin right above the boats I had a bird's eye view from our balcony...but oh those loud, shrill alarms!! Yikes.

Lifeboat supervisor.

I watched as Bob made his way onto shore. He texted me when he got to the big flag. 

See Bob in his bright green shirt?

Can you still see Bob? He is standing next to the shoreline. 

After Bob left I remembered that we had never gotten the ceramic tiles that HAL gives to its Mariners. On our cruise a year ago, the Nieuw Statendam had been out of tiles so I also had a card telling us we could request those tiles on a future cruise. At Guest Services the staff member said tiles had been given out several nights ago and we should have received them. She did some calling and said it would be taken care of. She also gave me two of the 150th anniversary tiles for the ones we missed getting on the Nieuw Statendam cruise. While I was on Deck 3 I realized that all of the gift shops were closed since we were in port. I asked and found out they were not going to be open at all tonight (or tomorrow) so it was a good thing we spent our onboard credit yesterday. Unfortunately Bob still planned to pick up a water bottle which now wasn't going to happen.

Bob texted me that he was having fish tacos at Tacos Lily in town. Prior to our cruise I had done some research on places to go in Ensenada and Lily's came up because it was featured on Anthony Bourdain's TV show. Bob even got to meet Lily, the owner, while he was there!

Ensenada is known as the birthplace of the fish taco.

I was ready for lunch myself and since I hadn't made it to the Dive In yet, I decided I would have a hotdog. I went expecting the lido pool area to be empty since I assumed most passengers would be in port. I was wrong. The pool area was packed. After putting in my order and getting a pager, I sat down at a small table next to the hot tubs. A bar tender walked by just as the pager was going off and I ordered a Diet Coke. I realized when I got up from my chair that whomever had sat in the chair last had just gotten out of the pool and now I had a very wet bottom. 😒

I ate my hotdog but brought the Coke back to the room to enjoy on the balcony. Bob joined me when he returned and gave me the report on his venture into Ensenada.

He wanted to get a salad and some dessert so I went with him to the buffet. (Side note: my iPhone fitness app has been showing that even with my sore knee I have been walking about 2 miles a day just walking the length of the ship multiple times.) When we got to the buffet we saw the "Cake Me Away" extravaganza was taking place. All looked very yummy. Bob got a piece of the carrot cake. 

We tried to sit on the balcony some more, but the wind was blowing and the temps had dropped. It just wasn't comfortable. I was so cold I crawled into bed. Bob, on the other hand, went down to the promenade deck to walk since his long walk into town wasn't enough. He returned 45 minutes later and said he had only done two laps. He had spent time visiting with some people he knew and also watched as a passenger was taken away in an ambulance. He decided he would make one more trip into town to see if he could find the seals (sea lions?) that he had heard barking earlier.

I showered and worked on the last of the packing while he was gone and then he did likewise when he returned. 

At dinner it was unusual to look out the window by our table in the main dining room and see a soccer game instead of water! There was still about $30 left of our onboard credit so on a whim I ordered the steak and lobster from the menu that has an $18 surcharge. Bob ordered the sweet and sour shrimp off the main menu and I think he got the better meal. My steak was pretty good, but I've eaten better lobster. My sides consisted of two tiny asparagus spears, a baby carrot and half of a small baked potato. Oh and I almost forgot...one HALF of a cherry tomato.

Husni loved parking scooters in the dining room! 

Our dinnertime view.

My $18 steak & lobster dinner.

Bob's sweet & shower shrimp meal. He said it was the best he had on the cruise!

The evening entertainment at the main stage was Kirsti Manna performing a tribute to Carole King. I felt bad I had missed her first show on Monday when I wasn't feeling well, but I wasn't that impressed with her show. Bob said some of the songs were repeats. The audience was pretty sparse. I'm sure many people were busy doing their last minute packing.

Singer Kirsti Manna accompanied by her husband on guitar.

We ended our evening with the last 15 minutes of Clara and James' set in Billboard Onboard. The bags were set in the hallway before we crawled into bed. The cruise had come to the end.

Good night, Ensenada.