trvlcrzy

Greetings from Ft. Lauderdale. Much warmer here than in the Midwest. Thanks for the report.

Good morning! I hope you enjoy your cruise! Will you be in Mass during the sailaway?

Thank you for today's report, trvlcrzy.

 

Roy

You're welcome. DH had class (a make-up from a cancelled class due to icy travel conditions), so I stepped in.

How was your last journey?

A friend just returned from a Princess cruise to several spots in South America, and I'm jealous of her pictures!

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Amsterdam -- Fremantle (Perth), Western Australia 8:00 AM – Midnight

Eurodam -- Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Maasdam -- At Sea (Atlantic Ocean: from Salvador da Bahia, Brazil to Fortaleza, Brazil)

Nieuw Amsterdam -- Key West, Florida 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Webcam: http://keywestharborwebcam.com/

Noordam -- Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Oosterdam -- Wellington, New Zealand 8:00 AM – Midnight

Webcam: http://www.centreport.co.nz/cargo-tracking/web-cams

Prinsendam -- Recife, Brazil 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Rotterdam -- At Sea (Java Sea: from Semarang/Borobudur, Java, Indonesia to Benoa/Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia)

Ryndam -- St John's, Antigua 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Statendam -- Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii 8:00 AM – Midnight

Veendam -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.ftlauderdalewebcam.com/

Webcam: http://portevergladeswebcam.com/

Volendam -- Sihanoukville (Kâmpóng Saôm), Cambodia 8:00 AM - 11:00 PM

Westerdam -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.ftlauderdalewebcam.com/

Webcam: http://portevergladeswebcam.com/

Zaandam -- At Sea (from Montevideo, Uruguay to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands)

Zuiderdam -- At Sea (from Puerto Limón/San José, Costa Rica to Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

Eastern Hemisphere: Sunday, February 22, 2015

Amsterdam -- Fremantle (Perth), Western Australia Midnight - 4:00 PM

Oosterdam -- At Sea (from Wellington, New Zealand to Tauranga/Rotorua, New Zealand)

Rotterdam -- Benoa (Denpasar), Bali, Indonesia 8:00 AM - Midnight

Volendam -- At Sea (South China Sea: from Sihanoukville/Kâmpóng Saôm, Cambodia to Phu My/Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

Nothing really wrong with the Ryndam but the one thing that wasn’t quite so good was breakfast in the Lido. It seemed like all the griddle items (waffles, pancakes, etc.) were freshly made on the Statendam while they were pulled from storage on the Ryndam.

I did find this oddness on ONE side of the Lido. On the other side of the Lido, the food was still being freshly prepared.

Another cruiser commented on a particularly busy morning, "It should be self-serve" as we waited for our custom-order eggs and French toast to be prepared.

I jumped into cheerleader mode, I guess, and replied, "But then the food wouldn't be as fresh. You can't get an overmedium egg on Princess since it sits there under lights until someone chooses it. It ends up being overcooked."

After ONE visit to the "wrong" side long about Wednesday, I quickly returned to the other side of the Lido for breakfasts.

Thank you, Lisa, for posting the fleet locations while we are traveling.

Traffic was horrendous both Friday and Saturday, but we finally made it to Tampa at about 5:00 pm Saturday. Beautiful weather here! Looking forward to boarding and enjoying one last journey on the Ryndam before she leaves the fleet. ...and one week of good food before I start my diet. (No need to plan on a Jan 1 start for that diet!!)

CruizerBill, Thanks for the good wishes. We definitely plan to enjoy our trip. We ended up in an OV cabin on the Main Deck.

Now, off to getting ready to leave the Chase Suites. (Our deck from our room looks over the channel. We can also see the Bahama Breeze restaurant... very crowded and very noisy when we went to get take out for dinner... but we couldn't hear the noise once in our room.)

Again, thanks to Lisa.

And we wish our friends Himself, CruizerBill and CruizerDiana were with us...

Thanks for the good wishes!

luvtwotrvl and trvlcrzy

Friday, November 14, 2014

Amsterdam -- Sydney, New South Wales 8:00 AM – Midnight

Webcam: http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Getti...und-Webcam.htm

Eurodam -- At Sea (from Georgetown, Grand Cayman to Key West, Florida)

Maasdam -- At Sea (from Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands to Tangier, Morocco)

Nieuw Amsterdam -- At Sea (from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas)

Noordam -- At Sea (from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Philipsburg, Sint Martin)

Oosterdam -- Scenic cruising Fiordland National Park (from Port Chalmers/Dunedin, New Zealand to Hobart, Tasmania(

Prinsendam -- At Sea (from Horta, Azores, Portugal to Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

Rotterdam -- Cape Town, South Africa 8:00 AM – Midnight

Ryndam -- At Sea (from Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal to Tampa, Florida)

Statendam -- At Sea (from Fuerte Amador/Panama City, Panama to Salaverry/Trujillo, Peru)

Veendam -- At Sea (from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico to San Diego, Calfornia)

Volendam -- Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, Australia 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Westerdam -- Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Zaandam -- At Sea (from Montevideo, Uruguay to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands)

Zuiderdam -- Puerto Limón (San José), Costa Rica 6:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Eastern Hemisphere: Saturday, November 15, 2014

Amsterdam -- Sydney, New South Wales Midnight - 4:00 PM

Oosterdam -- At Sea (Tasman Sea: from Port Chalmers/Dunedin, New Zealand to Hobart, Tasmania)

Rotterdam -- Cape Town, South Africa Midnight – Midnight

Volendam -- At Sea (Indian Ocean: from Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, Australia to Melbourne, Victoria)

Please join me with luvtwotrvl on the Dec 28 sailing of the Ryndam. We've done a couple of Christmas trips, but we've never been on board for New Year's.

Thanks for the work it takes to maintain this post!

David:

 

Thank You for the fleet report. As you know I am currently on the Noordam, We left Ft. Lauderdale later than sheduled on Monday. I believe it was 6:4r5PM when we let go the last of the lines and we had to skip HMC with swells and rough seas. First two nights were bumpy. We arrived in Grand Turk around 9 instead of at !2:00 Noon. Stayed on the ship at the Domincan Republic. It is a tender port. Had a wonderdul sea day on Friday with some rain. It was a nice day in Bonaire but a bit hot and humed with more promised tomorrow in Curacao. We are currently crawling beteen Bonaire and Curacao.

 

Again, thank you for the report.

I've always wanted to make it to Bonaire and Curacao. Someday...

Glad you are reporting!

Enjoy that glorious cruise!

Sorry for the weirdness in formatting the webcam addresses. It's been awhile since I was the one who posted. Please forgive my bad memory of how to do the links! :o

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Amsterdam -- At Sea (from Shanghai, China to Hong Kong, China)

Eurodam -- Boston, Massachusetts 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.seatowboston.com/harborcam.html

Maasdam -- Gaspé, Quebec 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Nieuw Amsterdam -- Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Noordam -- Málaga (Granada), Spain 8:00 AM - 11:00 PM

Oosterdam -- At Sea (Coral Sea: from Nouméa, Grande Terre, New Caledonia to Sydney, New South Wales)

Prinsendam -- At Sea (Mediterranean Sea: from Piraeus/Athens, Greece to Alexandria/Cairo, Egypt)

Rotterdam -- At Sea (Arabian Sea: from Salalah, Oman to Muscat, Oman)

Ryndam -- Antalya, Turkey 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Statendam -- Papeete, Tahiti Midnight - 5:00 AM followed by Cook's Bay, Moorea 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Veendam -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.ftlauderdalewebcam.com/

Webcam: http://portevergladeswebcam.com/

Volendam -- At Sea (Coral Sea: from Brisbane, Queensland to Hamilton Island, Queensland)

Westerdam -- At Sea (Caribbean Sea: from Cartagena, Columbia to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas)

Zaandam -- Callao (Lima), Peru 10:00 AM – Midnight

Zuiderdam -- At Sea (Caribbean Sea: from Willemstad, Curaçao to Gatún Lake/Panama Canal Partial Transit)

Eastern Hemisphere: Thursday, October 23, 2014

Amsterdam -- Hong Kong, China 8:00 AM – Midnight (political unrest?)

Nieuw Amsterdam -- Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00 - 8:00 PM

Oosterdam -- At Sea (Tasman Sea: from Nouméa, Grande Terre, New Caledonia to Sydney, New South Wales)

Prinsendam -- Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt 6:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Rotterdam -- Muscat, Oman 8:00 AM - 11:00 PM

Ryndam -- At Sea (Mediterranean Sea: from Antalya, Turkey to Port Said/Cairo, Egypt)

Statendam -- Avatoru, Rangiroa, French Polynesia 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Volendam -- Hamilton Island, Queensland 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Thank you for the birthday wishes!

I was born on a Friday... so no, I wasn't born on Labor Day... but it sure is nice to get an extra day off for my birthday every once in a while.

Sorry, guys...

1) Cruise Critic boards were down last night, so the post is late.

2) I tried 4 different happy Friday images with no success.

(that's why luvtwotrvl is in charge of posting these!)

http://www.melissashoe.com/2013/05/17/happy-friday-melissa-lovers-x/

Follow this link for a happy Friday pic!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Amsterdam -- Ketchikan, Alaska 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Webcam: http://webcamketchikan.com/mega-view/

Eurodam -- Stockholm, Sweden Midnight - 5:00 PM

Maasdam -- Quebec, Quebec 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Nieuw Amsterdam -- Mytilene, Nisos Lesbos, Greece 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Noordam -- La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Oosterdam -- Scenic cruising Glacier Bay 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Prinsendam -- Stavanger, Norway 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Rotterdam -- Greenock (Glasgow/Edinburgh), Scotland Midnight - 2:00 AM

Ryndam -- At Sea (North Sea: from Århus, Denmark to Dover/London, England)

Statendam -- Ketchikan, Alaska 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Webcam: http://webcamketchikan.com/mega-view/

Veendam -- Portland, Maine 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Volendam -- Tracy Arm 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM followed by Juneau, Alaska 1:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.juneau.org/cam/southcam.php

Westerdam -- Victoria, British Columbia 6:00 PM – Midnight

Webcam: http://www.bigwavedave.ca/webcams.php?cam=10

Zaandam -- Vancouver, British Columbia 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.northvancouver.com/webcams/cruisecam/

Webcam: http://www.visioncritical.com/the-view-from-here

Zuiderdam -- Scenic cruising The Inside Passage (from Ketchikan, Alaska to Seattle, Washington)

Eastern Hemisphere: Saturday, August 23, 2014

Eurodam -- At Sea (Baltic Sea: from Stockholm, Sweden to Warnemünde/Berlin, Germany)

Nieuw Amsterdam -- Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Noordam -- Palermo, Sicily, Italy 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Prinsendam -- At Sea (North Sea: from Stavanger, Norway to Ijmuiden/Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Ryndam -- Dover (London), England 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Webcam: http://www.bay.tv/dover-harbour-webcam,1006

We just returned from a cruise with the Explore 4 Beverage Package. The card was gold (a silver/platinum? one was offered as well). I have no idea if this card can be purchased independently. (The bar servers were selling them in the lounge area while we were waiting to board, but we didn't investigate the terms of the different cards.)

With the Explore 4, the card itself has no value. We could get up to 15 beverages per day as long as the cost was less than $7 per drink, and we could only get one at a time. The paper attached with the card (waiting in our stateroom) said the card could not be used on Half Moon Cay, minibar purchases, or room service.

My card became demagnetized once during our trip, and the front office printed another. One disadvantage that I saw about the card... it lists your name and CABIN NUMBER. If you punch holes in your key card and your beverage card to put on a lanyard (as we do), the key card is now "with your cabin number" in case of loss. When the card was replaced, it still had my name (first one only had Mrs. ___ ____ with first and last, but the replacement had whole name as printed on passport) and cabin number.

Can anyone add information as to whether you can purchase this card (with this spending limit of 15 beverages per day) independent of the Explore 4 package?

Thank you, Lisa. Now if I can just get my sleep patterns back to EDT. I've been awake all night, and I slept probably 45 minutes on the plane rides.

Special thanks to LAFFNVEGAS for taking over the postings while we are on our CRUISE!!! :D "The mountains are calling, and I must go." -- John Muir

Thank you, Himself. We will definitely stop by and get some of that "best fudge this side of heaven."

 

David

Do you promise??? I have witnesses now that you said it!!!

Thanks so much! We are looking forward to the time away.

...IIRC, you have a cruise coming up, enjoy!

 

Roy

Yes! We are looking forward to the 2-week itinerary on the Amsterdam.

luvtwotrvl's wife here,

we are wondering about which nights for Pinnacle Grill vs. MDR

Please tell your sister that David and I miss her!

When we got on the Westerdam in 2013, these were the flowers that were in the PS -- dead -- they smelled so bad that DH took them down to the concierge.

 

 

Another view

 

 

Somehow I don't think that's how one makes potpourri... :eek:

I am also a Titanic enthusiast (in fact, I will be teaching a camp for gifted students on the topic this summer).

Reassure your son...

1) modern ships are welded, not riveted

2) summer sunlight in the northern reaches will create sunlight for the majority of the day... easy to see icebergs

3) icebergs aren't nearly as common in the Gulf of Alaska/inside passage trips... if you are scenic viewing near a glacier, you will see much smaller "bergy bits" and few chunks that would even qualify as icebergs. Consider it "crushed ice" instead.

4) lifeboats are required for all souls onboard... to have enough seats for TWICE the total people on board, so that all passengers may leave from EITHER side if the ship is listing/leaning in the water (this is actually due in part to the Titanic inquiry by SOLAS -- Safety of Life at Sea)

5) I'm returning to Alaska for my 8th trip (the 6th time via cruise) and other posters here have been more times than that!

6) the US Coast Guard has stations along the route with excellently trained crews ... no worries about being 400 miles from the mainland

7) the other ship traffic in these areas is quite busy, so there are others to come to aid quickly if a problem arises -- and their communication capabilities are FAR superior to 1912 technology

8) Lifeboats are NOT open wooden boats, so they are more safely designed compared to those that capsized or exposed Titanic passengers to the weather of the night

9) Take the safety training seriously and always be aware of your surroundings (not because of dangers of sinking, but because this is always smart when traveling with 1500-2000 strangers!)

10) Enjoy your cruise!

I hope some of this helps!

I got hooked on a series while on a HAL ship... and wouldn't you know... they didn't have the next book in their library (gasp)?

I refuse to read out of order. It's just wrong. I even checked the library on my next cruise... no luck. I had to buy one to keep moving in the series. (Now graduate school has interfered with my pleasure reading... but soon, very soon... I'll be back!)

While flowers are lovely, and I do take note of them in the public areas since they are usually unique arrangements (for my simple tastes), I do not really notice them in my cabin. Maybe the amenity (due to cost-saving measures) is a small offering initially, but those who question it are rated "ok, they care about this" and given a better arrangement?