Voyage of the Vikings: Embarkation Day Part 2

This is the rest of embarkation day in Boston for the Voyage of the Vikings cruise. At the hotel, our Uber driver was there within 2 minutes (we had just got through the door) and we loaded up and were off for the very short drive to the cruise terminal.

Embarkation Afternoon

There are two ships in port today, the Zaandam and the Zuiderdam. Zaandam was first at Terminal 1 and the Zuiderdam was at Terminal 2.

Checkin and Lunch

There was no wait to drop our luggage with a porter. Then a short walk to the port entry.

We waited about 10 minutes in a covered outside area and had a police officer check our passport and boarding pass before heading up the escalators to checkin.

There was no line for checkin where our passports were scanned and facial recognition identified us. After I took the time to print the boarding passes at the hotel, they didn’t scan. We had to go to an agent to get new ones printed. The whole process probably took about 5 minutes.

It was so fast that I never really saw a seating area! On the way to the gangway, we had the photographers take a boarding photo and embarked.

No idea why they printed August 8th on this photo.

We went up one deck and found our cabin where we left our carryons.

The keycards are on the mailbox slot outside the door.

Then it was off to lunch at the buffet. We wanted to eat light since it such a late lunch. We both had salads made and got a small pre-made sandwich.

Mine was chicken and Steve’s was roast beef. Light didn’t mean we skipped dessert. I had the peanut butter silk pie and Steve had ice cream with cookies.

On the way back to our cabin we stopped at our muster station which took about 2 minutes. Then we picked up two cans of water at the Ocean bar.

Cabin and Unpacking

In our cabin, we first took photos before starting to unpack. Here’s a view of the cabin looking towards the window.

This is the view we see from the window.

We really liked having the floor to ceiling window in the ocean view category. Here is a picture looking back towards the door.

Yes, they gave me 2 1/2 gallons of distilled water for my cpap. I did use quite a bit of it in 35 days but not all. A closer look at what was waiting for us on the bed.

In addition to the papers on the bed, we have more information on the desk.

We had three closets across from the bathroom.

This is our first cabin with a tub.

We unpacked our backpacks and carry-on. The cabin steward and his assistant, Abdul and Nended, knocked and introduced themselves and asked if we needed anything.

I did ask for the fridge to be emptied and the bottles of water for sale removed. Abdul asked if our luggage arrived and once we said no how many pieces. A few minutes later when Steve was leaving the cabin all three suitcases were outside the door. Then I started unpacking.

It took me a bit to figure out where to put everything. I wish they had drawers in one of the closests but we made do with the shelves. We decided to keep the heavy coats, gloves, etc. in a suitcase under the bed we will retrieve when they are needed.

Embarkation Evening

With that job done we went up the Crow’s Nest to relax with a cocktail or two.

I had bee’s knee and Steve had his usual —- jack and coke. The drink was delicious.

I was able to check the navigator app and see the onboard credit was all applied — $1,850 worth.

There was a card for the amount from our travel agency. We need to spend at least $1,000 of it which is not refundable since it’s from Holland America.

I did spend some buying a tour in Halifax that I didn’t pre-book. We are going to get the unlimited laundry package tomorrow.

Together that takes care of a little over $700.

After leaving the Crow’s Nest we walked up to deck 9 to see if the Zaandam had left. It had and a nice woman took this photo of us.

Embarkation Dinner

Then we headed to the open dining room, deck 2, and got a pager for dinner. It took about 20 minutes to get seated. We waited another 10 minutes for the waiter. Once Roy started our service, it was perfectly timed.

I ordered ginger ale to drink and was surprised to see this brand.

I’d never heard of it but later learned it is a Dutch brand. Here’s tonight’s menu.

I started with the salmon chowder which was good, hot and plentiful.

We both had the crab, scallop and shrimp cocktail.

Steve also had a gourmet green salad which he enjoyed. For entree I had the pork medallions which were very good.

Steve had the rainbow trout. He enjoyed it but was surprised how thin the fish was. I think he’s used to eating ocean fish.

For dessert I went with the devil’s cake and ate about half.

Steve had a hot fudge sundae.

Rest of Evening

We had missed the entertainment since we ate so late (sat down around 7 pm). We went back to our cabin where we found the room had been turned down.

There was a large envelope from our travel agency that included name tags, a calendar and a letter detailing when/where to find them and the details on the first cocktail event.

Below are some of the papers we received this first day.

Here is the Canada Customs letter we received. I still found the form confusing even with the second page of instructions. It was further clarified the second time we got this on the way back.