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© Lisa Cubbon, 2000
Who:
- Gloria and Don Smith: reside in Mobile AL the last four years.
Moved from Deerfield IL. 5th cruise
- Lisa and Andy Cubbon: reside in Marietta, GA since 1979. Moved from Deerfield IL.
16th cruise. 1st cruise on Holland America
(Lisa and Gloria are cousins, and Don and Andy might as well be.)
When: November 2-16
Where: MS Zaandam and the Grosvenor Disney Resort
Itinerary:
Nov 1. Smith’s leave Mobile. Drive to Ocala. Continue on to Ft. Lauderdale on Nov 2nd
Nov 2. Cubbon’s leave Marietta. Drive to Ft. Lauderdale. Overnight at the Holiday Inn Airport
Nov 3. Board MS Zaandam in mid-afternoon. The ship sets sail at 5pm
Nov 4. Beach Day at Half Moon Cay, Holland America’s Private Island in the Bahamas
Nov 5. At sea
Nov 6. St. Thomas
Nov 7. Roseau, Dominica
Nov 8. Port of Spain, Trinidad
Nov 9. Fort-De- France, Martinique
Nov 10. St. Kitts
Nov 11. At sea
Nov 12. At sea
Nov 13. Leave the ship and drive to WDW for two days of R&R
Nov 14. Magic Kingdom
Nov 15. Epcot
Nov 16. Drive home
Format: Day by day with exceptions for the first day on the ship, which contains detail on the ship and events.
Thursday November 2nd. Andy and Lisa left on the morning of November 2nd. We actually left five minutes early at 7:55am to drive to Ft. Lauderdale. We left again at 11:00am. Let me explain. I was driving the first shift and we stopped at the Macon Rest Center for a comfort break and as Andy got out of the car, he realized that he had left his wallet at home! Well, that won’t do. A guy’s gotta have his wallet. It’s like a piece of his life support system. So back we went to Marietta. We hit the house at 10:40, were out at 10:45 and gassed up and on the road at 11am. We stopped again at the Macon Rest Center for lunch and then stayed on the road, stopping when we had to, and of course at the DisneyWorld Welcome Center in Ocala. Got gas and hit the road again. We arrived at the hotel at 9:55pm. I can’t believe we did it. Anyone who knows us knows that driving for 11 hours is just not our style.
Friday November 3. We met up with our traveling companions, the Smith’s, for breakfast and then arranged for the shuttle from the hotel to take us to the Cruise Pier. Holiday Inn had free parking for cruise passengers so be got10 days of parking and a hotel room for $98.10. That’s a deal you won’t see often. We cleared out of the sleeping rooms and went on a drive to the Cruise Pier and had lunch at Le Tub in Hollywood. It’s a great little find that my friend Kathy introduced us to when we were moving Jenny down to Miami. We shared a huge Greek Salad and had burgers, fries, and Gloria and I had a pre-cruise beer. Tummies all full (after all, you never know when you might eat again on a cruise ship!), we headed back to the hotel and the shuttle was ready for us so off we went to the Cruise Pier. I thought we might be early since the tickets said embarkation was at 3pm but we were right on time! There were busloads of passengers arriving from the airport. We got in line (only the first of many others we would be in for 10 days) and we were on the ship by 2pm.
The MS Zaandam is a baby ship. It was christened on May so it’s only six months old. It’s the newest ship we have all been on. The ship holds 1440 passengers and it was just about full to capacity for this cruise. Our cabins were on the lower promenade level, 3307 and 3309. There were connecting staterooms so we were able to open the doors and use both sides to extend the rooms and enjoy each other’s company. The cabins were lovely. Easily the nicest we have ever had. They were a good size too. We each had twin beds, a small love seat and chair, vanity area, tons of closet space (adjustable for long dresses), a couple drawers (but again the closet space was very ample) and the luggage fit under the beds. The bathrooms were really quite spacious and included a hairdryer. The best room steward we have ever had kept the cabins spotless. I don’t know his name but he was flawless in his care of the cabins. He was well tipped by us for this service. The two large windows did have an ocean view, past the lower promenade. Gloria and I were able to set up our deck chairs not far from the cabins and that we both liked that. The guys also set up around there too but in the shade. Neither Don nor Andy like to tan and Don burns. They always were long pants and could see no reason to expose the blanched flesh to the sun on this cruise.
After we were on board and the cabins inspected, we headed out to walk the ship. It’s quite lovely although I never did figure out the Atrium Organ. It’s large, three stories tall, looks like rococo, baroque architecture to me. It did play occasionally, but I never figured out when or why. The base of the structure was on our deck so we walked by it frequently and each time I just wondered about it. First things first, we found the dining room! We were assigned first seating, which is fine for us, and we were on the lower level one row out from the windows. That was good too until at dinner the first night and we realized that it was very warm back in that area and as hard as the asst. matre’d tried it never got comfortable. Plus you could not hear the music. Indonesian staff provides the dining room service. Our waiter and assistant waiter (who we only saw at dinner each evening) were OK. We felt rushed through each dinner and were pretty surprised that we were not offered a second cup of coffee and that the assistant waiter did not know our preferences by the second night. That was pretty unusual since on the previous cruises the dining room staff was wonderful. The tips reflected that lack of attention. While the service was good (not great) the food was very uneven. Some of the dishes were wonderful; a lot were just plan food. We noticed that they did lunch better and that the cuisine is totally different in the Marco Polo, a boutique dining room. There were many eating options too. The dining room, the Lido buffet line, the grille and the taco bar. I was a never at a loss for places to get food, coffee, water (very good too) at any time on the cruise. We usually took breakfast on at the Lido since Gloria went to daily Mass and I went to the gym and the guys got up later. Lunch was on the Lido too until we met the Maitre’d and he showed us a lunch menu and the dining room became a wonderful option. The food was very good there each time we ate there. After finding the restaurant, we roamed some more. I wanted to find the spa since I committed myself to going to the gym every day (and I did except for one morning.) I did not want to do the aerobics or walk-a-mile stuff. Just the cardio in the gym would be fine. They had a lot of gym quality equipment and a nice assortment of cardio stuff too. Unfortunately they did not have any elliptical walkers which are my preferred device. I used the recumbent bike but it really got to my knees. Next time I may just walk the decks to avoid that. But the staff was helpful and I enjoyed the companions I met in the gym. Mike for Medford OR worked for UPS and we had great conversation about the elections where other gym rats joined in too. There actually was a usual crowd in the gym too. About 15 of us would be there between 7-7:30am each day. We found the theater and it was very nice holding about 100 people with soft comfy seats and popcorn too! We never watched a movie but Mass was said in there each day and Gloria said it was nice. The pubic areas were all on one deck and very busy at night. The main show room was pretty large too. I think it held 600 people and was mostly full for the evening shows. There was a piano player in one lounge and a string quartet in another lounge and then a small combo up in the Crow’s Nest so there were plenty of options for music listeners but we notice very little space for dancing. That was unexpected but as the cruise wore on we could see why. There was a high population of mobility impaired guests. There was a special group of guest with Parkinson’s disease. And another interesting group; 250 poker players and boy did they play poker! Next to the Casino, are two meeting rooms and any time the ship was at sea, they were there playing poker. I am not sure they ate dinner! I think this contributed to the tone of the cruise. This group represented about 20% of the total passenger population who were unavailable to the ship’s activities. There was another group of AAA passengers but I think these folks were participants in the ship’s activities. The poker players played poker, period. The rooms were always reeking of smoke too. Too bad since the beautiful library was located very close by and you had to walk by to get to it. The library was the prettiest public room on the ship to me. It was open and airy and very inviting. There were four built in desks facing the water and chairs with footstools and a long conference table. Adjoining the library was the Internet kiosk and there were usually a few folks in there doing stuff. AS is our usual custom, after dinner we headed out to the Lido deck to sit and enjoy the sea breezes. There was very little soot falling from the funnels for which we were totally grateful. We were on one ship where it felt like black rain every evening. We were pretty pooped so we skipped the “Welcome to the Ship” show and hit the sack. The cruise director was a young lad (I am sounding more like my father everyday!) and did a nice job. Lyle Laver seemed to be pretty available and I often saw him sitting in the audience during the evening entertainment and he was around during the day too. I suspect he will do better with more seasoning. He is not a song and dance man but comes out of a broadcasting background in Canada. Our tablemates were a retired German-American couple from Port Richie by way of Chicago. Since we were all originally from Chicago, it made for some pleasant conversation the first night. Edie was clearly in charge. Hans’ English is not so good so she ordered his food and tucked him up mostly. He was also on many medicines and had a couple of rough days on the cruise. She played Bingo and only Bingo. That is why she was on the cruise, clearly. Dinners with tablemates are something we enjoy but this was a difficult situation. I sat between Don and Gloria and directly across from Hans since I seemed to be the only one that could wrestle the conversation from Edie and give Hans a chance to talk. It was very awkward for us.
Saturday November 4th: Our first day in paradise. I go to the gym, Gloria goes to mass and the boys get up around 9am. I have settled into the Lido aft area and have eaten a four course breakfast; two glasses of water and a banana, two graham crackers with peanut butter, a cup of wonderful decafe coffee, and some cereal with milk. This becomes the usual pattern for us until the end when we try the dining room for breakfast. We enjoyed that too but only did a couple breakfasts since it just seemed out of the way and the Lido selection was very good. The ship is tendering us to the Private Island so we lolled around until almost 11:30a and headed down to the tender level and they were still using numbers to get passengers to ashore! Well, the fellow marshaling the passengers just let us stay and put us on the next tender. Holland America has a wonderful private island. Andy and I have been on a couple of other cruise lines that also provide this activity but this was outstanding. HAL had carved out a little canal to get passengers to the pier and then made this wonderful little town for guests. The bathrooms were beautiful according to Gloria. They had shops and hair braiding and lots of beach activities and a BBQ area. We meandered about, got a snack and headed back to the ship within 90 minutes. We are not beach people. Andy and Don do not sit in the sun or on the beach so this activity had limited appeal to us. We ate lunch at the Lido, which was the primary eating place for lunch. That night was the Captain’s Welcome Party so the guys suited up in the Tuxes, and Gloria and I tucked us into beaded elegance. We stood in line for one set of photos, ducked the second set and the shaking hands with the Captain, and headed into the freebie drinks and munches. It went on forever… The ship has only one area for these get-togethers and it’s the show lounge with two stories. It’s not a very warm place for a meet and greet. The Captain is an interesting chap. Capt’n Jack was certainly not Smiling Jack. He was around in the evening after second seating dinner but seldom smiled or seemed comfortable. I wonder if he was the relief captain? We usually saw the Executive Chef and the Maitre’D’Hotel after dinner. They would hang out in the same lounge we were in with the string quartet. The Maitre’D’Hotel was an interesting chap. He showed us the dining room lunch menu one-day, we ate there and were hooked! They kitchen did a wonderful job with lunch. I also had a wonderful chicken curry in the Lido one day. Go figure. Andy and Don could not figure out why there was ice cream one day and not the next. It was not like the truck came overnight, after all. The evening’s entertainment was Broadway in Concert. Pretty typical cruise fare. One of the dancers, Joe Perez, was amazing. Any time he was on stage, he just commanded my attention. Otherwise, it was OK. We were always able to get good seats, maybe not together but near by and we enjoyed whatever it was.
Sunday November 5th: At sea. Yay! One of our favorite activities on any cruise is to sit and enjoy the sea air. That we did. Nothing else except for Gloria going to Mass and me hitting the gym in the morning. This evening, Gary Hunter was the entertainment and he was pretty good. He’s a ventriloquist and it was just pleasant. Very low key and nice.
Monday November 6th: St. Thomas. Well, what is there to say about St. Thomas. I hate the place. We got off the ship to do a little shopping in the mall there. Gloria got a new pair of Tevas and I bought a hairdryer since the cabin’s one was not sufficient and I have short hair! We did watch the rum cruise come back and that was high amusement for us. Lots of drunks careening on the pier to their respective ships. We were not the only ones docked at Haven’s Sight; there were two other monster ships in port too. We did not bother with a trip to the mall Charlotte Amelia has turned into. The entertainment tonight was very excellent. Dave Levesque is a comedic violinist entertainer. He was lots of fun and the whole audience seemed to like the act.
Tuesday November 7th: Dominica. OK, we had been looking forward to this place. It was the only island on the cruise that we had not visited. We opted out of a tour since we would be docking in town and we would just catch a cab and hire an independent guide. Wrong! The ship docked, not at the downtown cruise pier but at the container terminal. Another ship was at the downtown pier. We were not amused. We did venture out, I had a short shop and we started out but the guard at the gate seemed very reluctant to let us just walk to town. There did not seem to be a clear path/sidewalk along the road and it just seemed not a good idea to walk to Roseau so we went back to the ship. Andy and Don completed the short course in container management at this port. This evening’s entertainment was not so hot. Don leaned over at the end and said it’s not often you see a guy do a 45 minute imitation of Carol Channing. Enough said. He did something another afternoon and while we are not big joiners, we avoided this one like the plague.
Wednesday November 8th: Port of Spain, Trinidad. We had really liked Trinidad the last time we were here so we docked, close to town, within good eye shot of the container terminal, and marched to town. It was pleasant, hot, a light breeze but pleasant. The people of Trinidad were very helpful. We walked over to what appeared to be a railroad station and I asked a woman what the building was and it had been a railroad station until they took up the track and changed to buses. That was too bad since the station was very reminiscent of the old Victorian stations in England. Andy and Don spent more time performing quality assurance on the container yard of Port of Spain, which was eventually, voted best container facility of the cruise. Tonight we were entertained by a show, Dancing Fool and actually I think they did a good job. It’s not easy to dance on a ship that refuses to stay still and again, Joe Perez shined.
Thrusday Nov 9th: Martinique. OH boy! We picked this cruise because it stopped here. Don wanted to get a specific kind of rum and we all wanted croissants and French pastries. Yummy! Again, we docked at the container yard not the cruise pier. It was a long hike into Fort-De-France. Apparently the cruise terminal was destroyed by a hurricane a couple years ago. We never did find our grocery store and we got caught in a doozey of a rainstorm and skipped through the puddles on the way back to the ship. We skipped the entertainment tonight and I have no idea why. It was a magician and I understand from others that he was pretty good. I was wandering around one afternoon and saw him doing card tricks in the show lounge to a nice size audience but it’s not my cup of tea so I just moved on.
Friday November 10th: St. Kitts. We had been to St. Kitts before and we decided to take a taxi to the city center and just walk about. We visited the lovely Catholic Church and the Anglican Church. Both were old and very reflective of the islands. The Anglican Church even had a baptismal font with George and the Dragon on top! There was something going on at the large arena and we had very pleasant Calypso music for our walk about. Tonight’s entertainment was certainly the most bizarre of the cruise. It’s the first time I have ever seen a full-blown xylophone performance. Ian Finkel ( son of Feifush Finkel of Picket Fence fame) does it all on the xylophone. Clearly he is classically trainer but it was certainly different. He’s WAY over the TOP.
Saturday November 11th: Day at sea. Hot Dog! We just lazed about and enjoyed watching the crew do repairs to the ship. It was pleasant enough a way to spend a day. We thought about a movie but skipped that too. The ship had very nice movies playing in the theater but we were just too lazy. What a lovely feeling. Tonight we were treated to another big show, Monte Carlo. It was OK.
Sunday November 12th: Another Day at Sea. OK really get moving on the packing. We all did a good bit on the 11th and finished up in no time. We bought very little in the way of souvenirs so there was very little that had to be shoe horned into the luggage. The interesting event of the day occurred at lunchtime. We were in the dining room and all of a sudden there was a very loud BANG! We were sitting at a table that overlooked the stern and could clearly see that the ship was not moving. Then one of the screws started and we were limping slowly along. When we were in St. Kitts, there was a diver inspecting the hull and he did not get finished so when this happened, Capt’n Jack now had another problem to deal with. Later in the afternoon, he came on and spoke to the passengers. He had been given permission to arrive early in Ft. Lauderdale so the inspection could be completed. No mention of the event at lunchtime but we were not in danger and the ship was moving well. We skipped the entertainment tonight in favor of spending the Lido BUT the Lido was closed! Some kind of cleaning/repair work and we just could not get to the outside deck. This points up a fundamental flaw in the ship’s design. Very little our side deck space up high. We could always go to the lower promenade deck but clearly “they” wanted us inside for the evening. This was the evening we ate in the Marco Polo, the small boutique restaurant on the ship. I wish we had eaten there more. It was excellent Italian cuisine and just proves that they could turn out wonderful meals in small quantities. We tipped this staff separately from the dining room and while we were eating a woman came in with tips all around. I suspect she ate there every night. The menu was limited but very well prepared.
Monday November 13th: End of cruise. The debarkation went very smoothly. When we got up around 6:30a the ship was quietly docked and around 8a the luggage was taken off and once the ship was cleared by customs and immigrations, people stated exiting. We breakfasted in the Lido and cleared out of the cabins and hunkered down on the Lido deck for the wait. We were in the last group off and we were off around 10:20a. Andy and Don located the luggage and toted it outside and then they took a cab to get the cars from the Holiday Inn (where they were parked for free) and were back within 30 minutes. We loaded up and were on our way to Walt Disney World for our post cruise vacation.
The drive to WDW was uneventful, thank goodness. We arrived at the Grosvenor around 3pm and got checked in quickly. The Grosvenor is located in the Lake Buena Vista area and I would not recommend to die hard Disneyfiles. I could not get rooms at Boardwalk or Beach or Yacht Club for the nights we needed so this was offered. The price was right, $99 per night and it was clean but felt like Florida motel to me. The lobby was nice and had a coffee shop where we got breakfast but it was nothing special at all. Once we were unpacked we headed over to Downtown Disney to see about dinner at Portobello Yacht Club and to see what could be done with the old ticket media Don had. They had visited WDW in 1995 and had the old three parks plus a wild card tickets so we had a day at the Magic Kingdom and a wild card park, which we made Epcot. Dinner at Portobello was wonderful except we did not sit outside. It was cool the whole time we were at WDW so lights jackets and sweatshirts were the rule everyday and evening.
Tuesday November 14th: Magic Kingdom. We drove from the Grosvenor to Boardwalk and parked there. Since we had Annual Passes we took advantage and parked so we could get dinner after our day at the Magic Kingdom. Now, this is confession time. We have never spent so much time in the Magic Kingdom and Andy and I were amazed that we could actually spend nine hours doing stuff there. We enjoyed the whole time. Since the crowds were light, Don and I used Fast Pass on Space Mountain. Andy and Gloria passed on this one. We rode TTA, Carousel of Progress, and Timekeeper in Tomorrowland. Then we headed to Fantasyland, in the drizzle, and got a pretty wonderful lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus. Now, I am half-Italian and it never bothered me that this Italian fairy tale is represented in a Bavarian village scene but what the heck! I had a great salad. It was a grilled chicken breast with peaches, blue cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I ate the WHOLE thing. The others had burgers, which they liked but mine was great. I suspect it has to do with the new Executive Chef, Dieter. After lunch we did Small World (well, Andy refuses to do this one) and then wandered over to Liberty Square and Haunted Mansion. All this was done at a very leisurely pace. Then we headed to Tiki Birds, which Don loved, and Jungle Cruise and Pirates. As I mentioned before, the crowds were so light, which made this day much pleasanter. We skipped Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain was down so we went back and rode the Riverboat and then back to the Frontier Land Train Station. Don and Gloria even rode the teacups at the end of the day. While Don and Gloria were doing the teacups I got a Strawberry Swirl from the Enchanted Forest. Yummy. I even let Don have a taste. I think it’s hooked too. We rode the train from Toon Fair to Main Street and watched the fireworks and then left as quickly as possible. We took a quick circle around on the monorail and then took the bus to Boardwalk. We had dinner at Spoodles which was not packed either and called it a night. I can’t remember what we had except it was very good.
Wednesday November 15th: Epcot. Epcot was the destination today. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Boardwalk and walked into Epcot through the International Gateway. We got in before World Showcase was open so it was empty and a little sunny which made for a wonderful leisurely walk towards Future World. In Future World we did Journey Into Your Imagination and the Land boat ride. Don and Gloria had been to Epcot before but only remembered the World Showcase. Gloria and I sat down while the guys saw the house of the future theater demonstration. Then we headed to Test Track. I got Fast Passes for Don, Gloria and me (Andy sits this one out) and we saw the World of Energy and the Dinosaurs. I always enjoy this one and I hope next time to get in a vehicle on the far right so I can spend more time in the dinosaurs room. We headed to The Rose and Crown for lunch and it was Test Track time! This impressed the Smith’s and I always enjoy it. Then again, not much of a line even for standby. It was fun. I like the outside part and it was warm and not rainy when it was our turn. After Test Track we headed to Wonders of Life and played in there for awhile and saw Cranium Command. After this, it was getting dark so we headed to Space Ship Earth and then to World Showcase. The plan was to eat our way around the world for supper but it did not work out so well. We did get a nosh in Mexico and then Rice Cream in Norway where we stopped and saw the early Tapestry of Nations Parade. We managed to get to Morocco and saw the second parade there. There were a whole lot more folks in the park than in during the day. We found a couple of spots to watch Reflections on Earth and again, Disney impressed the Smith’s. This fireworks show, just keeps getting better and better. After that, we strolled to Boardwalk and had a coffee and then headed back to the hotel for the last night of our vacation.
Thrusday November 16th. Well this is it. The end of the vacation. Don and Gloria left for Mobile after breakfast and we headed to the World of Disney for a Christmas shop. That accomplished we headed to the Animal Kingdom. I wanted to pick up a pair of Mickey binoculars and we both wanted to ride the Safari and see the gorillas. After that we went to Boardwalk and had lunch at Spoodles. Yet another great meal. We left WDW at 1:30 and were in the house at 8:30 including a stop at Publix to restock the milk.
Overall, it was a great vacation. Different from the other cruises we have been on and certainly different since we included a long drive and a short stay at WDW.