Day 51 Disembarkation

Well disembarkation went relatively smoothly today. J walked off with his bags as he had to claim his scissors that were confiscated before we got on the ship!  (They were deemed too long!). I had two bags plus my wheeled carryon and backpack - so I was using the assistance of the ship to move my big pieces of luggage and thus was waiting for my colour “Grey 1” to be called. J met up with V and R off the ship and they texted me and told me to just walk off and not wait for my colour to be called!  The cruise line gives priority to their passengers in suites, on excursions, with four and five star status - so lowly travellers with early flights don’t have much hope of making it out early. 

Customs in San Diego proved to be relatively quick. I left the ship around 8:20 am and moved through customs within 30 minutes. I had to wait about 15 minutes for my luggage. 

Quite the operation to find sort luggage!

We walked outside and immediately grabbed a cab to the airport. A taxi from the pier to the airport was $20. 

We saw lots of familiar faces and friends on the flight to Vancouver - which was the starting point of this cruise for about 400 of the 1600 passengers onboard. 

We had a quick turnaround for our flight home. So now we are home - with the water turned on and furnace running. It is good to be home!!

I feel privileged, lucky…. spoiled to have been on a 50 day cruise. There is much to appreciate in life - home sweet home is one of them!!

Until next time folks!  Thanks for following along on this blog. Fifty days on a cruise ship was the longest vacation we have ever taken. We are happy and thankful to be home!

Day 50 At Sea

After a wonderful 50 day cruise, today was our last day at Sea.  We will disembark in San Diego tomorrow.

 

We set an alarm for 7 am to ensure we get our body clocks on track.  J had packed his bag last night, I used the time before the 10 AM Cruise Overview and Crew Farewell to get a solid start on packing my bags.  Cruise Director, Ian Page, gave us an overview and reminded us of all the ports we visited.  The Captain gave a few words saying how proud he was of this cruise.  Then all (or most of the crew) came onstage - the stewards, waiters, guest services, chefs….and they received a prolonged standing ovation for all their hard work.

 

Ian summed it up with the well known phrase, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the places and moments that take our breath away!”  A number in the audience had tears in their eyes, myself included.  How very true that statement is.  

Crew onstage accepting thanks. 

 

We intended to stay in the Mainstage Theatre to watch the “Origin Story” - the 150 years of history of Holland America.  As it happened, our three friends who joined us for the dripping wet day in Fakarava (with whom we had so much fun!) were seated just in front of us.  I asked if they wanted to see our pictures, they said yes, so I ran to the room to get my laptop.  We shared our 12 minute slideshow - then air dropped pictures back and forth!  (That is one of the beauties of apple devices).

 

In fact, once we watched Origin Story, I realized I had seen it (J had not) but it has so much information included, it was good to watch again.  We walked out of the theatre talking with one of our Fakarava friends, and learned she had contracted COVID on the ship (likely from the Fakarava tender) and had been in quarantine - but was now free and clear and able to move around the ship.

 

We had one last lunch in the dining room that was excellent.  After lunch, J went to bridge and I went to the Future Cruise Booking desk.  There are incentives to book onboard the ship as they give you onboard ship credits for your next cruise so I followed up on that matter.  I checked in for tomorrow's flight (only because I was reminded to do so by running into friends who were waiting for access at the business centre to print boarding passes).  Then final packing ensued and I weighed my bags!  I have 1.2 pounds to spare on my big bag!  I do have a smaller (newly purchased) bag that I can add to if the airport weighscale doesn’t agree.

 

Our last supper was really wonderful with lots of smiles and laughs and delicious food!  We will miss our waiters and our friends!

Our waiters Juma and Wibi - two of the best in the business!

We feel privileged to have been on this wonderful journey for 50 days - spoiled indeed.  Back to life in Canada - where the weather won’t be as mild and we will surely miss our room stewards who keep our stateroom spotless and our waiters who have made these meals so effortless for us.  Life is good and we are thankful every single day!

Day 49 At Sea

Today’s activities didn’t go as planned - but there was anticipation about the ship just the same.  We went to eat our breakfast by the Lido pool as usual this morning and found a plethora of towel animals surrounding the pool!  Evidently the stewards had been busy late last night!

Animal towels by the pool!

 

J and I really wanted to hear Holland America’s origin story (all 150 years of it!) on the Mainstage at 11 am.  In order to be sure we got a seat, we went and listened to Dr. Karen Woodman’s presentation on language.  She referred to the French Immersion experience in Canada so it was at least somewhat interesting as our two boys paritipcated in the French Immersion program for 7 years each. 

 

Ian Page was acting as narrator for the Holland America story and he stopped it after technical difficulties arose syncing the video clips and getting the audio to work.  Ultimately, they determined it was not an immediate fix, so the same program will be offered tomorrow morning at 11 am.

 

It was at noon when the Captain made his regular announcement, that he announced they would be making a medical evacuation off this ship this afternoon.  Keep in mind we are 450 nautical miles from San Diego - so this was going to be serious business.   Serious enough for the patient to need to be taken off the ship before our arrival in San Diego in less than two days time.  The Captain advised us that two helicopters and a refuelling plane would flying 5 hours from San Diego to carry out the medical evacuation and that a crew member was involved.

 

As we left our stateroom for lunch we ran into our two room stewards, Agust and Made (maw day) and asked them about the situation.  We were told that generally when people are air lifted off it is due to a burst appendix.  We ran into R & E at lunch (who had organized our Castaway Island excursion) so we sat with them to eat.  I ran back to the room to get my laptop so that we could share our 12 minute slideshow of our pictures of this trip.  We showed our pictures and air dropped a couple of them to R’s phone - the first he had ever received!

 

We continued to sit and talk about the medical evacuation, knowing that the helicopter was going to evacuate the patient from the Sea View pool situated at the back of deck nine, the Lido deck.  The helicopter will not land, but it will hover above the ship and drop down a rescue person (or two) and a cage to load the passenger onto the stretcher, then lift the stretcher up into the helicopter.  We walked back to the Sea View pool area and found all the tables, chairs and loungers tied up so they wouldn’t blow around with the powerful forces of the chopper blades.  This was around 2:10 pm and the captain was back there talking to different officers and guests.  I knew for sure then that the Ask the Captain anything session was cancelled for 2 pm on the Mainstage.  He had far more important matters to attend to!  

 

We got shuffled away from the back Sea View pool at that point.  R & E decided to come to our room as we had a verandah on the right side of the shipping - facing east where we expected the helicopters and plane to appear.  And that point one fixed wing aircraft was circling the ship at that point.  We then saw another fixed wing plane arrive, then the two helicopters.  They all circled the ship a few times - the Captain had told us he would drop our speed to 8 - 10 knots and keep moving during the evacuation.  We then saw one helicopter circling on our side (starboard) and figured out it was an Air Force helicopter.  It kept looping in a circle just on the starboard side for maybe 30 minutes.  We then went to their stateroom on the port side and found the other helicopter making loops on that side of the ship.  Without being able to see the back of the ship anyhow, we didn’t really see the action of retrieving the patient.  R & E decided to try to go up to the Lido deck to look through the windows, but crew were stationed at the doors on the ninth floor and wouldn’t let them get off the elevator.  So we returned to our staterooms - and eventually saw two helicopters head north and east to begin the five hour helicopter flight back to San Diego.  After that, the Captain made an announcement that the patient had been successfully evacuated with no issues onboard.  So now we hope the patient is successfully treated at a San Diego hospital.

Helicopter involved with medical evacuation. 

Photo shared by ship the day after this evacuation!

We had our penultimate supper with our usual waiters (Juma and Wibi) and our friends R & C seated next to us.  We then headed to the Zuiderdam Singers and Dancers show: All for Love.  I find their shows to be really lively and entertaining.  J headed back to the room to pack his bag.  I stayed at the Billboard Onboard to enjoy the collaborative piano players for a set, then returned to the room to finish my blog!  Tomorrow will be our last day at sea. 

Day 48 At Sea

Today we were busy, for a day at sea!  Today we had a Mariners lunch at sea with the Captain at 11 am. This is the third lunch he has had with guests on board. Yesterday R and C told us they arrived at 10:58 for their lunch and the dining room was packed. So we were in line at 10:45 am and were admitted by 10:50!  We ended up sitting with two friends and meeting two more that they knew!

I had Caesar salad for a starter and sole for my main. The one dessert offered was key lime pie. Everybody found a Holland America coaster beneath their napkin. So the delft pottery coaster is like our loot bag at the party. 

The Captain addressed the group saying once again that this was their longest voyage since COVID and that presented the crew with unique challenges. He was most proud of the fact that it was a safe voyage, despite the weather. It wasn’t the rain that he found challenging, rather, the wind. He said 7 and 10 day voyages become routine and they are quite easy to facilitate, the longer cruises just present additional challenges - like no internet!!

After lunch V and R from Vancouver and J and I went up to the Crowsnest and shared pictures with one another. V had a USB stick to make this easy!  We had one too - but it seemed compatible with J’s computer at home, not my laptop on the ship!

J played bridge, then I caught the tail end of a Jurassic Park movie in the Rolling Stone lounge. 

We then had a really lovely Italian dinner at Canaletto with Rose as our server again. 

Tonight I went to the MainStage to enjoy the final performance of Jukebox Rogues!  We both went to the game show “Call my bluff” after that and it provided lots of laughs!

Only two more days at sea and then our wonderful vacation will come to an end!

Day 47 At Sea

We had our final clock shift last night - it was for 30 minutes forward - so we are now on San Diego time where we will end the cruise. 

This morning’s coffee hour talk was with our Entertainment Director, Philip. He told us how many performers - singers, duos, comedians etc are shared between the Holland America fleet. Two of those performers were transferring from the Noordam and moved to four different ports of call intending to board our ship.  They never could board our ship for the number of cancellations of ports due to the weather. One of the challenges of the job!

He also said that Port to Table and Tech for Travel are two entertainment series that are being prepared for release on the ship in January. 

We then went to hear Dr Karen Woodward give a presentation on the MainStage with Photography tips for travel. She is a Canadian and a bit quirky and clearly moves around to different ships presenting for Holland America. We didn’t come away with anything we didn’t already know but you win some you lose some. 

We have been spotting a lot of flying fish off our Verandah today! From up here they look tiny but they fly a long distance! Sometimes they are solo sometimes there is a whole school of them!!

I went to the Lincoln Centre Stage where Ian interviewed the quartet. It was interesting to hear their audition process!  First round play a few prepared pieces - then sight read. Then a second interview having you perform with others in a quartet who are also auditioning- to see how you work in a group. Then wait a few months before you hear. If you are successful, you then practice for two weeks in New York with your quartet then go aboard your ship for a four month contract!

Our internet is still limited so I can read some texts and emails but I can send very little out!

Tonight was our final dressy dinner and I chose 3 starters rather than a starter main and dessert!!

After dinner we watched the “The Second Beat Exotic Marigold Hotel” then watched hi-lights from a Manchester United soccer game!!

Day 46 At Sea

We awoke this morning unsure if we had changed time last night. So we turned on the TV and saw it was 6:50 AM so John said well I am going to sleep some more of the clocks didn’t change. So shortly after 8 am we decided to go for breakfast in the dining room. That is when the entertainment director came on and announced it was 9:10 AM!  What??  We had missed breakfast in the dining room and I wanted to attend a coffee hour talk at 9:30 with four female team members. So we hurried up to the lido and I had a quick cold breakfast then went down to the second floor to hear the coffee hour chat. Good thing they offer tea too!

The coffee chat was with Maja (Guest a services Manager), Natalie (Shore Excursions Manager), Twinkle (Food & Beverage leader) and Chantal (Future Cruise Bookings).

These ladies offered such insightful comments that we stayed to chat for 70 minutes when these conversations usually last 30 minutes. 

A couple of noteworthy things I will share with you.  

1. Maja was offered jobs with both Princess cruise lines and Holland America initially. Princess offered her $700 per month. Holland America would pay her $70 per day. (Maja had to ask, “ I am sorry is that One- seven or seven-zero dollars per day?). HAL would pay her $2100 per month in 2004 when she joined - a huge difference!
2. Maja also said that this cruise in particular has been really difficult. So difficult that she was prepared to hand in her resignations a couple of times during this 50 day cruise. Remember her job is to manage the front desk and hear all the complaints!  And each time she was wanting to quit, a guest happened to come up to her and thank her for all that she was doing. So remember people, a simple thank you goes a long way!
3. The internet outage affected employers as much as guests. Two of these women have children back at home and they were unable to have their daily conversations with their kids while the internet wasn’t working on the ship. 

After the coffee chat we ordered coffee and tea to our room to enjoy sitting on the balcony. J thought a carafe of coffee would be appreciated so we ordered fruit and cookies to have a coffee break on our Verandah!

For lunch we found two couples seated at a six person table. We knew one couple through cruise critic and the other through bridge and they are Canadians so we sat in between them!  They didn’t know one another when we joined them but we introduced everybody and had a lovely long chin wag about travel stories!

After lunch J went to bridge and I watched a movie “Family Squares” which will not make the top 100 list but was appropriate for this demographic! One matriarch of a family died and the story is about the family left behind bickering after her death, then finding common ground, all set in COVID lockdown times!

I then went and spent some time transferring my best of my 50 day HAL cruise pictures from my phone to my laptop. Finally after supper we got that squared away and now have a 12 minute slideshow to show friends on the ship. 

We plan to invite a few couples to watch it over these last few sea days!

Day 45 At Sea Remembrance Day

Well there was quite a bit of activity on the ship for a sea day. 

Today is Nov 11th - Remembrance Day in Canada or Veterans Day in the USA. So we attended the service at 10 am in the MainStage theatre. It was a lovely service. First I should say that the ship provided  poppies to in our staterooms two evenings ago - so we were able to wear a poppy. Some forward thinking Canadians had brought their own poppies from home - we knew they were Canadians when they did that. 

The service began with Blair (one of the Billboard Onboard pianists) singing and playing Abide with me. The Captain gave a few words. The Interdenominational minister read a poem and the Catholic priest led us in the Lord’s prayer. Then they had the reading of the names. That gave the opportunity for people to stand up and name aloud somebody they knew and loved who had died in service to their country. That was very personal and touching. This was followed by the poem Flander’s Fields, the Last Post and two minutes of silence. We likely would have attended an outdoor service at home - so this was a touching alternative. 

We stayed in the MainStage for the presentation of Myths and Legends about crossing the equator. We went straight to the Lido pool to join R and C for lunch. They had secured a great table for viewing the King Neptune ceremony that would take place at 2 pm. 

The King Neptune celebration is an interactive  event where crew crossing the equator for the first time meet with a judge and King Neptune and his Queen. The crew are obliged to have coloured gelatin or meringue poured on them, then the Captain and his senior officers decide whether the crew are obliged to roast in the heat or walk the plank into the pool!  It was fun entertainment for the afternoon!  We received official certificates in our stateroom saying we have received the “Order of Shellbacks” and are no longer polywogs!(people who have never crossed the equator at sea)!

After dinner I went to see Jukebox Rogues present Masters of the Musicals. The singers acknowledged it was particularly poignant to sing the song “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables. I then enjoyed hearing a set with the double pianos in the Billboard Lounge and visited with some cruise critic friends again. 

Though internet is working sporadically, it is tough to get this blog uploaded so you likely won’t see pictures added to closer to land or later!