July 11, 2022, At Sea - Voyage of the Vikings

Yes, another amazing sleep aboard the beautiful Zaandam. Okay, won’t mention it again but wow such vivid dreams…

Our first sea day, love sea days. Breakfast at about 9:00 (this is after we lost an hour), lecture at eleven, a lite lunch at one followed by wine tasting at two, then nap time out on the deck. A little workout before getting ready for our first Gala night. Captain’s toast at 6:45 pm, then some time with cruise friends, Lucia and Henk. Then around the corner came Grand South American Voyage, Trivia partners, George and Joanne - now all we are missing are Marianne and Marcel.

Nice Gala Surf n Turf dinner followed by the BBC, Seven Worlds One Planet with the live orchestration performed by the Zaandam musicians - very nice.

So to date what we have noticed is missing - Covid related cutbacks or the new HAL cruise experience? No hosted tables at the Gala Event; No port lecturer, yes, Glenn Michael is a former port lecturer but no actual lecture on the ins and outs on a port visit - this is very unfortunate, Glenn is more in cruise director role (but even that has limited duties); No shore excursion presentation, you are on your own there - sad really; there will be a Future Cruise Consultant presentation tomorrow - so it looks like HAL wants you back but wants you to do all the research on the ports they are bringing you too; There has been a major cutback on wine stewards, you order your wine from your dining room waiter and a runner delivers your beverage to you. So far that’s it, we are fortunate to be seasoned cruisers and have had the benefits of all the former programs to draw from, if you are new to cruising you may be scratching your head a little - very limited direction on just about everything, perhaps that is why there is always been a very large line at the front desk. :(

A few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…

Quote of the day - “I would rather own little and see the world than own the world and see little of it” - Alexander Sattler