Stakeout

a sad day onboard the Nieuw Amsterdam.. our thoughts and prayers are with those crew members and their families  https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=818837323618690&set=a.641077974727960

8 hours ago, WCB said:

Report #25    Monday  January 23, 2023  Uturoa, Raiatea, French Polynesia   Cloudy With Showers And Some Sun, 90 Degrees Hot And Humid  Part #1 Of 4.........77 Pictures Day #1

 

Another day in Raiatea tomorrow, although it sure would have been nice to make that stop in Bora Bora.  We are still trying to figure out why we were able to stop there last November with more guests and crew, but not now.  Perhaps their rules changed in January, or another cruise line paid more for the privilege.  Too bad as it is considered the “pearl” of Polynesia.  We tend to agree.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

they why NO Bora Bora no bigger than 1200 pax  https://www.cntraveler.com/story/as-more-ports-ban-mega-cruise-ships-what-is-the-future-of-the-largest-vessels

 

no matter how many times--and it's been many-- we've been thru the Panama Canal always an interesting day.. still my favorite is watching the '2 men in a rowboat'--no motor-- right in front of the ship catch the lines thrown to them from the ship as one rows sometimes rather quickly out of the ship's path and the other hands off the lines to connect to the first 'mule'.. have a great WC

I might have missed seeing any post on this thread about 'masking up'..  this might be overkill on our part but just got off the Oosterdam for 64 days thru the Med and back to Miami  and we wore our masks in as many places on the ship as we could thruout the cruise-- just our personal preference and thought it to be the right thing to do on this our 104th HAL cruise .. and anyone who has medical problems and wants to cruise might want to think about that.. our choice was to 'mask up' as we didn't want any problems on our cruise as we were celebrating our 50th Anniversary-- didn't want anything to spoil our cruise especially Covid..  and does it bother us to wear a  mask.. not at all.. like I said --personal preference on our part

as for anyone complaining about medical evacuations of fellow passengers I won't even acknowledge that with a comment  except to say those complaining ought to seriously re-evaluate their priorities.. sad

we did 8 B2B's on the Koningsdam Nov2021-Jan 2022.. 8 separate booking #''s.. our account just carried forward to the next cruise updating with any Onboard Credits due us for that next cruise

we also did 4 B2B's on the Zaandam May 2022-June 2022.. 4 separate booking #'s ..same as on the Koningsdam with our account carrying over to the next segment.. updating any OnBoard Credits due us for that next segment

On 8/25/2022 at 9:17 AM, BobbiSox said:

I checked CruiseMapper and it showed Osterdam in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 19th. It also showed Rotterdam in Fort Lauderdale on November 20th, which  is the day I embark for the 21-day back-to-back.  I don't know why Cruise Mapper website would be wrong but it's cerainly possible. I do know that HAL sometimes makes mistakes. 

here's the latest update to our itinerary on the last of our 5 back to backs.. ends  Nov 19.. Miami

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

We are on the same cruise aboard the Oosterdam that is now arriving in Miami. You should be able to change your car rental reservation to a Miami location.

already changed to Miami car rental.. just a lot more convenient for us to do it out of Ft Lauderdale.. we try to avoid anything near Miami.. only 25 miles difference but sometimes a nitemare before our 11+ hour drive home

2 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I think it will.  I think the reason Oosterdam was moved rather than you is that Oosterdam's next cruise is a one-way from South Florida to San Diego while Volendam's is a round trip to the Amazon.  If they were to leave Miami and return to Ft. Lauderdale that would be even more of a logistical nightmare.

 

Roy

we thought about extending and were going to stay onboard after our 5 B2B's on the Oosterdam as we get back on Nov 19.. but decided against it..  its next cruise goes to South America-- Santiago, Chile-- thru the Canal from Ft Lauderdale-- now it is showing a 'blank' port  so it should just leave from the newly added Miami port that day---no San Diego--- and bounces back and forth between Chile and Buenos Aires thru the winter

Nov 19 is a Saturday unfortunately and should be busy in Port Everglades.. why the change.. this should be a good one.. much rather get in to port on a weekday down that way.. it's usually a 'zoo' on the weekends..

this is a first for us in the 25 years we've been sailing HAL.. we're on 5 back to backs starting Sept 16 on the Oosterdam doing the Med then ending with a Transatlantic.. just got this in an email from HAL this morning that our Nov 19 disembarkation and final port has changed from Ft Lauderdale to Miami.. NO reason given.. it's NOT where I wanted to be..  just added much inconvenience for us at least since we are not flying but rather doing a 1-way car rental..

***********************************************************************************************

Please be advised that disembarkation for your upcoming Oosterdam voyage on
Saturday, November 19, 2022 will now take place in Miami, Florida rather than
Fort Lauderdale, Florida as previously advised. Port Miami is located at 1015
North America Way, Miami, Florida, 33132. Guests with a Holland America Line
post-cruise hotel package or transfer will be taken directly from their hotel
or the airport to the pier. Guests with independent transfer arrangements
should adjust their plans accordingly.
The ship will now arrive in Miami at 6:00 AM rather than 7:00 AM to allow time
for transfers to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), so
existing air schedules do not need to be adjusted. For guests with Holland
America Line's Flight Ease Air, we have lifted your flights from your booking
to adjust the itinerary in our system, and they will be available again after

September 19

On 8/19/2022 at 5:53 PM, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

Good eye Marion! Yes, Kristine is one and the same! We had her on Koningsdam for the ship's 2021-2022 New Year's cruise to the Mex Riviera where she worked the NL with Patrick. She stayed on the "Big K" for  a while longer until starting her vacation back home in the Philippines. She came back to work in June on Zaandam and is looking forward to visiting Africa on the ship in October!

 

We will tell her you said hi. I'm sure she will remember you because she has a memory like a steel trap and, as you already know, is plain awesome at her job! 

holy guacamole---we were on the 'Big K' from Nov 14 thru Jan 9 -- 8 back to backs with Captain Henk and HGM Santoosch.. how in the heck did I miss you.. Gladys was the Mariner Coordinator.. surprised the good Captain didn't mention it as we go back to his days on the Maasdam

the Step One Dancers put on a great show with 'Humanity'.. as well as their other shows..  saw it on the Koningsdam when we were with Captain Henk for 8 weeks Nov-Jan and again on the Zaandam May thru June for 4 weeks with Captain Ane..  actually saw it more than once on each

no testing requirement sure makes our next set of 5 back to back cruises-64 days out of Barcelona on the Oosterdam a lot easier to manage ..just don't like the UNVACCINATED part of that notice..

have a great time.. enjoy your cruise .. and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY..  that sure looks like Det. Hercule Poirot that you are watching on that monitor screen .. we did 4 back to backs starting in Boston in late May onboard the Zaandam with Captain Ane who went home after our third week.. it was really nice to see familiar 'old Maasdam' faces with the staff and crew once again.. it's one of our favorite cruises that we try to do every year--gotta love Old Quebec City-- a stop in at Paillard's on Rue Saint-Jean on the upper level for the best of the best Croissants-- recommended to us a few years back by the one and only Francois..  I'm sure you will have great weather and a bit warmer than we had back then.. have fun.. retired from 'the job' 32 years as of this past July 30.. now living the dream and cruising as much as we can.. from My Blog  https://stakeouttoo.blogspot.com/2022/06/day-23-quebec-city.html

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/holland-america-line-drops-pre-cruise-testing-requirement-for-select-sailings.html

Verifly---like a couple of kids created it out of the basement of their house.. a disgrace that HAL or any other company would use it.. after they told me to uninstall and reinstall it I deleted the app.. then it wouldn't let me recover my account even though it says it would.. keeps on sending me back to square one.. a vicious circle.. a waste of time.. one more try so I tried downloading it again after uninstalling it.. then created a new account with another email I use... so far all it has taken is the vaccination cards.. we'll see what happens next week when the tests have to be entered for our upcoming cruise on the Zaandam

the scary part is... if the app is this bad.. how secure can it be.. my guess is.. it is lacking in security and can easily be hacked..

tried to do this 'first sailing back in service' and continue on with 5 other back to backs-- no good.. Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) got us...  so on to Plan B.. get onboard the Zaandam in Boston on May 28 for 4 back to backs.. have done this itinerary 5x in the past last in May 2019

On 4/19/2022 at 10:35 PM, kiefaber455 said:

Of all the ports we were looking forward to going to on our Sunsets and Adriatic Gems cruise, Santorini was #1 on the list.

For some reason, HAL has removed it and replaced it with Nafplion. Has anyone ever been there?

Really disappointed.

sorry to hear about the Santorini cancellation... we are supposed to be there on Oct 13 this year... my guess is-- it will be cancelled...  we have 5 back to backs booked on the Oosterdam from Sept 16 thru Nov 19 on our 50th Anniversary cruise.. and with all that is going on in Europe who knows what might else be cancelled...  trying to come up with a 'backup Plan B' in case it all gets cancelled 

we were in Nafplion in Oct 2018 on a 38 day cruise on the Oosterdam .. along with Santorini.. here's some pics of Nafplion on my Blog  if you care to take a look.. click on any pic to make it larger..   https://stakeouttoo.blogspot.com/2018/10/day-8-nafplion-greece.html   .. and some pics on our stop in Santorini that same cruise.. https://stakeouttoo.blogspot.com/2018/10/santorini-greece.html

3 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

I don't think it really ever switched away from the old site..

it did.. if you read others who have had it happen --above

would you believe after a few days --using either Firefox or Chrome-- the HAL site reverted back to the 'old site'.. mind-boggling.. 

sign into your HAL account... click on 'My Bookings'... click on 'Manage My Cruise' on the cruise you have booked a Flight Ease flight  on.. click on 'Travel Planning'-- in the drop Down boxes that show up .. on the left click on 'Pre and Post Cruise Travel'.. check 'Flights'  .. click on the green BEGIN button .. click on 'Book and Manage Flights'.. and there it is..  your flight.. 

like I've said in other posts-- whoever designs the HAL web pages looks like a high school kid did it..

in addition doesn't allow me to choose a particular cabin to see if it is available..

not even close to what it was last week.. a whole new format and layout.. many more 'clicks' to get at what you want.. can't see the final totals until you click on and 'hold' a cabin... used to place the totals in the upper right side of the page.. then let you choose a cabin rather than get what they give you as a Guarantee cabin .. if yours is the same hope it stays that way for you 

in the middle of all what is going on with Covid and restrictions.. HAL decides to do yet another update to their site.. what were they thinking.. more clicks to get what used to be an e-z process.. looks like some high school kid designed the new site .. I better just leave it at that..

On 3/23/2022 at 7:46 PM, Copper10-8 said:

 

Hi Cherie; SD Port PD did not notice something odd because they are not the ones doing the luggage scanning at the port of San Diego, contract port security does that and it is they, if they see "something odd," that then notify SD Port Police and Ship Security. So we can assume that in this case, nothing odd was observed in this doper's luggage because, if it was, there would have been follow up and, more than likely, we would be reading about a dope bust in San Diego 😉 

hay Copper.. just thinking out loud here..  and here I thought cruising all over with HAL these many years and sitting back just enjoying my retirement from the Suffolk County PD (NY) some 31+ years ago I would not hear about bad guys blunders and maybe be 'in the mix' on a HAL ship.. sure does bring back a lot of 'cops and robbers' memories I had over the 20 years I was 'on the job' as a Sergeant on Patrol working the streets.. we used to call it 'job security' -- bad guys-- or what we liked to call them--'skels'-- doing stupid things . stay well ..stay safe 🙂