Day 3 At Sea

It is a good thing the elevators have carpets in them to tell you the day of the week!  Today is Friday!!

It was a relaxing day at sea where J and I did independent activities. I tried out the hydra-pool, hoping to address my aching knee. 

J found the duplicate bridge room in the afternoon and found a partner who lives in Calgary!!  They offer duplicate bridge every sea day - and finding a regular partner is not necessary. 

A couple of things to report on. We used the laundry services (no self serve laundry on the Zuiderdam - and that includes irons to press shirts after travelling. So we filled a bag a laundry - mostly shirts for pressing for $20. Laundry was delivered back within 24 hours, beautifully pressed hanging on wooden - so yay we have more hangers in the room!!

I also failed to mention that yesterday J spotted about 50 dolphins and 30 seals on the starboard side when he was walking on the third floor around 7 am!  What a find!!  And I missed it!  But a lady from Manitoulin Island enjoyed the view with J. 

J and I decided to split our bed into two because it makes the room seem bigger and function more efficiently. Efficient - that is my husband!!  We’ll keep it this way until one of us falls out of bed!!  We  can look out our window with ease now!!

Just enjoyed  comedian, Cisco Duran, performing on the main stage!  Good sense of humour!

Tomorrow - we have a walking tour planned for San Francisco!!

Day 2 At Sea

We awoke early - around 5:30 am and by about 7 am decided to go for a workout.  J went to the Promenade deck on three and I went to the Fitness Centre on 9. The fitness centre was a happening place!  I road the bike and then went back to the room to stretch - the space decided to stretching seemed to have classes running back to back and therefore no opportunity to stretch in the fitness centre!

At 10 am we attended a shore excursion presentation - where the ship’s representatives spoke about San Francisco and San Diego. At 11 am we went to a Cruise Critic meet and greet. We arrived a few minutes late and the group was in deep discussion about private excursions booked and planned for later in the tour. 

Once the formal discussions ended, we introduced ourselves to one Cruise Critic couple who we will be travelling with on a number of excursions. I suggested that we do as we did on one Oceania cruise and that is to arrange for the smaller group to meet for lunch on a sea day before the excursion so we can get to know one another or at least be able to recognize each other on the pier on excursion day!!  V liked that idea!

Around lunch time we decided that we liked the stability of our present stateroom and would like to stay in this Oceanview. It was about this time that we heard from the front desk telling us they had an Verandah stateroom forward on the ship for us and to contact the front desk. 

We asked to go see the room so we could feel the movement of the seas. It was somewhere between two and four times more rocky than our current midship location. That information combined with the fact that the bed and the love seat in the proposed room faced backwards, was enough to make us decline the room. I am prone to seasickness and with about half our days at sea this cruise (for 5 or 6 days in a row) we felt it prudent to stay put. J doesn’t like it when he deals with the consequences of me being sick !  LOL, I wonder why?

Lunch in the dining room was lovely. We generally choose to sit at a table for two. We could gather with others, but eating alone allows us to eat at our pace and not be exposed to unnecessary health risks!

At 2 pm we attended a Welcome California presentation by Kanoia. He travels like we do - using public transit, exploring a bit beyond the tourist walls of a port! 

J had a nap after that and I went up to the Lido deck for some warmth and sunshine (air temp was about 16 degrees C but maybe got as high as 20 today). The hot tub is slightly warmer than a lukewarm bath so not that inspiring!

These lovely flowers, hors d’oeuvres, and chocolate dipped strawberries were a gift from my travel agent and sister LC and delivered to the room yesterday!  The food was eaten immediately and we will have the flowers to enjoy for a couple of weeks!

Supper in the dining room was delicious!  We enjoyed bourbon glazed cod - cooked perfectly!!

Daniel Boucher was a Argentian singer who performed in the MainStage tonight. He was talented, but a performer I wouldn’t necessarily return to see!

Back at the room and settled in for the night. Another day at sea tomorrow!

Day 1 Embarkation Day in Vancouver

J awoke early and decided to walk back out to Stanley Park to watch our ship pull into port - and take a picture with his little waterproof camera!  

Holland America’s Zuiderdam arriving at and settling into port at Canada Place.

 

While talking on the phone with my very knowledgeable sister, LC, we discovered that we had a room change!  Well that is good news that we have been upgraded from an oceanview room to a Verandah.  The fresh air will be appreciated - especially in these times of COVID.

 

J has returned with a simple breakfast of boiled eggs and an apple.  We will call an UBER and get to the port now.  More details to follow….but I thought I would start the day and post while I knew I had wifi!

…Nine hours later…

So we have now boarded and are somewhat settled into a room - it may be our room for the duration - but certainly ours for the next few days. 

I will back up and say we took an Uber to Canada Place. We had a knowledgeable driver who took us to the port in 10 minutes and dropped us off immediately outside embarkation area. We zipped through the check in and security process in 18 minutes!  And that even counts J going through his bag for security pulling out his scissors (they proved to be too long) and his pocket knife (they let him keep that).  But the scissors will be returned perhaps during the cruise if the captain approves them - or at the end of it, if he doesn’t like the look of them!

We then sat in a waiting hall for less than 30 minutes, making friends, especially with the seamstress who is onboard to adjust costumes for the performers. 

We then walked on the ship. As soon as we were scanned in here, we were escorted by a an official looking officer to the front of the “Club Orange” guest services line. There they said “Congratulations you have been upgraded” and gave us keys to a verandah room. Excellent. Thank you very much!!

As John was carrying his own heavy bag, we were anxious to leave our bags in the room. So upon walking to said verandah room - we found it was beyond a wall that forbid entrance to that section of rooms. Thinking it was closed just for crew doing work in that section - we went around to the other hallway and approached the room from the opposite side. That is when we saw more cordoning off and a stool directly in front of the door to our room. We just wanted to drop our bags and go eat lunch so we pondered what to do. I found a room steward nearby who helped us. That is when we learned this was the isolation wing for guests with COVID and in fact we needed to go back to guest services to change our room. 

So back we went to talk with guest services. The Front Desk Manager was very kind and concerned about providing us with a room so she gave us an ocean view room temporarily and is on the hunt for a verandah room for us. Most passengers are boarding on this ship in five days in San Diego so inventory will be known once those people have been accounted for. In the meantime, we are enjoying the location and the room steward of this room.  The room is a lovely room and we would be happy to stay here, but a verandah and fresh air would be nice too!!  A bonus that my family would love is that is comes with a bathtub as well as a shower!!

We met a lovely couple at lunch and another wonderful couple in the Crowsnest Lounge so we are making friends!

We have been assigned a table for two for dinner on the third floor of the dining room. J 

is very happy learn we have a great view out the dining room windows for our next 50 days worth of suppers!

The MainStage entertainment was a professional presentation about the history of the Holland America line. 

Now I must finish this blog and finish unpacking!!

Stay well. 

Day 0 Vancouver Pre-Cruise

Let the travel begin!

 

 

We were very excited yesterday to receive COVID negative tests!  Hooray - we knew that hurdle was a big one and we have tried to be very cautious for these last two weeks.  It was a big sigh of relief when the pharmacist reported that we were good to go!  COVID negative tests are required if you are boarding a ship for a cruise longer than 16 days in length.

 

Never before have I felt so unprepared for a trip!  I don’t know if it was the last minute changes in the itineray or my workload until the eleventh hour, or the need to get a COVID negative test, but I did not begin packing in earnest until 6 pm last night.  So after a mere three hours of sleep last night, J and I caught a taxi to the airport to catch our flight this morning, with bags packed!

 

The plane was very empty!  And we were two of a handful of guests who actually checked luggage.  Unfortunately mine was overweight and that cost me $100.  I would have been better off packing two smaller suitcases (instead of one monster one) becuase my first piece of luggage was free and the second would only cost $40.  Live and learn!

 

Once we arrived in Vancouver - Team Canada was playing a friendly soccer (football) game against Uruguay in preparation for the World Cup - so we hooked up my laptop to my phone using a hotspot and watched the game in the arrivals area!  Team Canada lost 2 -0 but they looked strong and were not seriously outplayed so that was good.

 

We then took the public train to Vancouver downtown (cost for the ride was about $9.50 apiece).  We then pulled our luggage for about 10 minutes to get to the YWCA Hotel in Vancouver, located right near BC Place (where the Vancouver Whitecaps play).  The YWCA is a great option.  $250 for a regular hotel room.  In downtown Vancouver that is a bargain.  John and I got an early check-in around noon and both went to sleep for an hour. 

The rooftop patio at the YWCA!

 We then woke up and walked to a nearby IGA to buy a bagged salad for lunch and to the Hudson’s Bay store to get a new battery in J's watch.  We returned to the hotel and ate lunch at a lovely rooftop patio on the eleventh floor.  We then decided to walk to Stanley Park.  This was about an hour one way….and so we saw beautiful sights in downtown Vancouver and got in plenty of steps (27,497).  Vancouver was showing its best self today - sunshine and about 25 C - just perfect. 

Canada Place is in the background with the peaked white tent like structure. This is where our ship is scheduled to arrive and depart tomorrow!

We tried to find the number one rated restaurant in Chinatown, and, while we did find it, it turned out to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  So we walked back to the hotel and ate at a restaurant nearby.  Now back at the YWCA, J is sawing logs and I intend to join him shortly.  

 

This is where the cruise is scheduled to visit (It actually begins in Vancouver on Sept 28 and our first port is San Francisco - but that isn’t pictured here:)

 

 

I couldn’t let my blog reader’s down by not publishing on the first day!  Tomorrow we are scheduled to board at 11 AM at Canada Place.  We will see how that goes!

 

Thanks for joining me on this journey!  

50 Days on Holland America’s Zuiderdam

It feels like it has been a very long time since we have travelled far enough afield to warrant writing in my blog. World travel certainly came to a halt due to COVID for the past two years. Fingers crossed, J and I will be able to get COVID negative tests on Monday and be able to fly on Tuesday. We don’t need to COVID test to fly but we do need it to board the ship as the cruise is longer than 16 days in length. The plan is to board Holland America’s Zuiderdam on Wednesday in Vancouver.

J has both his main bag and his carry on packed. I do not. Let me get tomorrow’s event out of the way and I will start packing!

You are most welcome to follow along as I try to capture details of the places we visit!