Copper10-8

Day 2 - Thursday 27 May 23 - At Sea (con't) For the afternoon, we did lots of chilling and taking it easy until 4:30 PM where, after receiving an invitation, attended a party for Dutch speaking guests only in honor of Dutch King Willem Alexander on his birthday. It was held in the Explorer’s Lounge on Deck 2 starboard side aft and wound up being well attended by the 23 Dutch passengers and many of the Dutch officers, incl. the captain, staff captain, hotel general manager, chief engineer, executive chief housekeeper, and many others. Kaptein Jeroen gave a speech and toast, and singled out one of his passengers, a career Dutch diplomat who, upon his return home from Nieuw Amsterdam to the little western European county, would receive a high Dutch civil commendation from that same King Willem Alexander. The Order of Orange-Nassau or “Orde van Oranje-Nassau” in Dutch, is a civil and military order or chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent at that time, Emma of the Netherlands. Every year, about 4,500 people are accepted as a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau. Cool event this afternoon. that we have never attended before! Thanks for the invite, Ruben! Btw, all Nieuw Amsterdam crew is wearing a nice 150 years of HAL, anniversary pin on their uniforms – see pic of the captain and the separate pic of the 150-year pin. The officers’ formal uniform of short black tuxedo jacket, white tux shirt, black bow tie and black pants is gone, except for on the grand world voyage. The officers now wear a more modern suit jacket with a dark blue (or today, orange) necktie and matching dark pants. Rank insignia is on the cufflinks. This ship – Nieuw Amsterdam – has a ballroom dance hour from 4-5 PM in the BB King’s Blues Club for those so inclined and/or have long held desires to be on Dancing with the Stars! Not sure if it’s only on sea days or every day but so far it has been on the program for both Thursday and Friday so stay tuned. Before I forget, magician Scott Pepper was performing his magic at 2:00 PM in the afternoon inside the Main Stage and, upon the conclusion of his act at 3:00 PM, they were showing the psychological horror film “Knock at the cabin” for those pax who wished to stay awake all night long in a cold sweat into the early morning hours! 🥸 The entertainment schedule for Thursday evening read comedian Lamont Ferguson at 7:00 and 9:00 PM in the Main Stage. The Third Avenue West trio in the Ocean Bar at 5:00 and 6:00 PM. The Billboard Onboard duo playing their dueling pianos at 7:45, 9:00 and 10:15 PM. The B.B. King’s All-Stars at 9:30 and 11:00 PM, followed by “Dancing to the hits” and a D.J. in the same place from 11:45 PM to the wee hours. As on the other dam ships, there is no longer a Lincoln Center Stage classical group onboard however, rumor has I that HAL is negotiating with their (LSS) managerial group to come up with a new labor contract. Nieuw A also lost their Step One dance company about a week and a half ago during the trip up from Ft. Lauderdale however, a new Step One dance company is joining the ship in two days in Vancouver, BC. Decided to once again have an easy low-key dinner in the Lido for the second night in a row and we both chose the pasta bar, having a very good Linguini. We followed that up by a low-key night inside the abode on Deck 7 and picked Kingsman: The Golden Circle, a 2017 spy action comedy film with Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Hale Berry, Jeff Bridges, Elton John, and others. See ya manana for our 2nd sea day! Translation Dutch to English: You are cordially invited for pre-dinner drinks in honor of King's day. Enjoy king's Day!

Awesome! 😀Maria and I are really looking forward to it! See you both at 6:30 outside the new terminal at the B Pier

Day 2 – Thursday 27 APR 23 Those HAL beds and multitude of pillows are sure comfy making for a deep sleep! We woke up around 0700-0715 hours to overcast skies and a temp of about 65 degrees Fahrenheit as Nieuw A was steaming northbound along the California coast, off Ventura County, at 19 knots in international waters which is at least 12 miles out. One of the perks of a Neptune Suite is the ability to have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant (until 0930 on sea days) so that’s exactly what we did. The manager in there is Senor Carlos from the South American country of Uruguay. One of the very few Uruguayans working as crew on Hal. We both chose the eggs benedict minus sauce which was served promptly and hot. The eggs came with a little hash brown and we both had Greek vanilla yoghurt as an appetizer along with a nice cup of mint tea. Makes for a quiet and relaxing breakfast in there. Besides Senor Carlos, the PG crew, including the female host, is all from Indonesia, so no Dutchies and/or Hungarians on this one. After petit dejeuner, we took a stroll of the ship, paying attention to the “new stuff” since we last sailed her. Today, 27 May, happens to be “Koningsdag” / “King’s Day” in the Netherlands. It is a national holiday and celebrates the Dutch Monarch, King Willem-Alexander's birthday with lots of music, dancing, flea markets and fun fairs. When Queen Beatrix, Willem-Alaxander’s mum, was still head of state, Queen's Day was celebrated on 30 April. This changed in 2014 when Willem-Alexander ascended the throne. The Dutch have called it King's Day ever since and everyone in the Netherlands, including the royal family, celebrates King's Day on 27 April. If you have ever seen photographs of King's Day, you probably noticed that almost everyone is dressed in orange. This is because the royal family bears the name “House of Orange” (Huis van Oranje) and as a result it has become the national color. But how did this come about? Well, it originated with Willem of Orange. He was born Willem of Nassau-Dillenburg in 1533. At the age of 11, he inherited the Principality of Orange in the south of France, thus becoming a sovereign monarch. His full name then became Willem of Orange-Nassau, or Willem of Orange for short. He led the Dutch revolt against Spain and when he captured the city of Den Briel from Spain, people used orange as a symbolic color for the first time. He is considered The Father of the Fatherland. Dutch people wear orange as a symbol of national unity and a sign of pride. More about King’s Day on the Nieuw Amsterdam later. At 10:00 AM, we found ourselves inside the B.B. King’s Blues Club on Deck 2 starboard side for a cooking demonstration of Dutch Split Pea Soup, “Erwten soep” in Dutch by none other than Nieuw A’s captain Jeroen van Donselaar. We weren’t the only ones inside the club, the place was filed to the brim with standing room only. The black shirts had placed several folding chairs on the dance floor for extra seating. The captain, an avid cook at home in Maine, was introduced by Kimberley, Nieuw A’s cruise & travel director, and assisted by PG Chef Bram, another cloggy. Using the old America’s Test Kitchen equipment such as the large bar/cooking stove, and the overhead cameras, Kaptein Jeroen proceeded to prepare a quantity of “erwten soep” in a large pan accompanied by a play-by-play and a question-and-answer session facilitated by Kimberly. Recipes of how to make split pea soup were handed out and, at the conclusion of the demo, waiters were handing out cups of the soup to the audience so preceding the traditional serving of erwten soep on the coldest day of the cruise, that being next week on the visit to Glacier Bay National Park. As some of you know, Maria is quite the water color enthusiast at home, so here on Nieuw Amsterdam, she discovered, and wound up taking, two painting classes; “Adventures in Water Color” at 11:00 AM and “Modern Brush Lettering” at 2:00 PM, taught by Rose, a ,member of the entertainment staff, with both classes taking place in the meeting room on the port side of the Crow’s Nest on Deck 11, now known as the Art Studio. We wound up having lunch around 1:00 Pm at the Dive-In on Deck 9 mid-ships by the Lido Pool, where Maria had the Back Flip chicken sandwich, while I had a Dive-In Dog. (To be con't)

That's funny Dave! Yes, I was a DH with 2 1/2 bars with HAL, and have always had a port hole on A-Deck while working. The shower wasn't that big; you learned real fast to put soap on the walls, do the hokey pokey, and get real friendly with that shower curtain 😉 I did a float once on a gator, the old USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2). All the jarheads were down somewhere below the water line sleeping in racks 😎 Good times!

Ann; if it's not too much trouble for you and Pat, would a 6:30 PM pickup at Ogden Point be doable and does the Bard & Banker have good parking? If I remember correctly from my working days, we have to meet you outside in the area where the shuttle buses pickup/drop off is. Nieuw A is assigned the B Pier, south side and we are there with Discovery Princess who has the B Pier, north side. My Orca tour is from 12:30-1530 however Maria's trip to the land of flowers at Butchart's is from 2:00-5:30 PM. We really appreciate you two doing this for us, especially having just come back from Europe!!

Always good to see you here Sir!

Hi Ann; I had no clue you guys would be back already from your trans-Atlantic! Hope you two had an excellent time on the new Rotterdam and had a chance to try the Grand Dutch Cafe! Yes, we will be in your beautiful city tomorrow from 12:00 Noon until 11:00 PM (All aboard is 10:30 PM). We actually already have shore excursions booked and we are splitting up because Maria is tired of hanging out with me 🤣 She's going on a tour to, you guessed it, Butchart's Gardens, while I'm going on a whale watch tour to look for Orcas. Unfortunately, they are not refundable which is understandable. Would you two be interested in dinner in Victoria tomorrow evening? We actually were thinking about the Bard & Banker at Government & Fort Street and take the shuttle bus there after returning from our individual tours. If you are both still suffering from jetlag, we completely understand and will take a rain check for next time!

Heard it's gonna be raining on Sunday in your fine city 🥸

Thanks; he's actually from Uruguay an he is performing again tonite. The PG manager, Carlos, is from Uruguay also. We asked him just now while having brekkie if he was aware of his countryman Nestor being onboard, since Uruguay is not the first country that comes to mind when you're talking HAL crew members. Carlos said no, and added that Nestor was welcome to visit the PG, as long as he brought a bottle of wine because that's the custom in la Republica Oriental del Uruguay! 😉

Thanks but the cab ride was less than $20 and the cabbie was entertaining

Day 1 - Wednesday 26 APR 23 (con't) Dinner for us was in the Lido Market, more specifically at “Distant Lands” where tonight they were serving an Indonesian/Indian combo which Maria and I both selected. It was a combo of Nasi Goreng (fried rice), Aloo Gobi (literally potato cauliflower – along with herbs and spices), Ayam Goreng (fried chicken legs), and Dim Sum. All in all, a spicey dish served in a bowl. The entertainment tonite! First of all, unlike other Dams ships, Nieuw A does not have the presentation of HAL’s history on embarkation day evening. Instead, the main entertainment, two shows to be more specific at 7:00 and 9:00 PM was by Uruguayan guitarist Nestor Santurio in the Mainstage. We went to the 2nd show and really enjoyed Nestor’s playing and strumming his fretted musical instrument with six strings backed up on the moving stage panels with LED projections, sound and computerized lighting sets behind him on which videos and photos were depicted! You see, senor Nestor played a success of national hits from countries like Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Spain and others. He was good, as well as entertaining. Besides Nestor, there were the two ivory tinglers in Billboard Onboard performing at 7:30, 9:15, and 10:30 PM; Third Avenue West, playing in the Ocean Bar at 5:00 and 6:00 PM; the B.B. King’s All-Stars in their club at 8:45, 9:45 and 10:45 PM, followed by a DJ playing “Dancing to the Hits” from 11:30 PM to closing time. So, this ship, contrary to other stories, does not die out at 9:06 PM! After the show, we did some walking around and, to our surprise, discovered that Nieuw A once again has a full-size library. This one is located on Deck 2 forward, starboard side where, at one the Screening Room movie theater was located. When it closed, the space became the Tasman Room multi-purpose meeting room. As a matter of fact, the space is still identified as the Tasman Room on the ship’s maps by the various elevator lobbies/ They haven’t had a chance to update them yet to identify the new library. The interesting part of the library is that the books appear brand new and each of those books on the shelves is represented by three separate copies so no worries about running out of a book if you really want to check one out. The jury is still out if this is a prudent decision if the book in there wind up not being returned by the person(s) who took them. There is also a table present where pax can leave books they brought onboard and are no longer interested in. Good move by HAL to reinstate a full library! We then spent time taking with the B.B. King’s All-Stars in their lounge for their second set. Like all BB King bands we have seen, they were awesome with sweet sounds. Oh yeah, this was the full eight-person band with two vocalists, a bass guitar, a lead guitar, a keyboard player, a percussionist, a sax player and a trumpet player. We tried a "Blues Rita" and a "Roadhouse Drop" We called it a night around 11;15 PM after a somewhat early and long day. See ya manana!

Plastic screw-on bottles that keep their fizz! No issues getting them on!

It's the old 36-seat (six rows of six theater-style reclining leather seats with small tables in between) home theater that used to be known as the "Screening Room" After that closed, the space was known as the Tasman Room, a kinda/sorta multi-purpose room. They haven't had time to change those Tasman Room signs yet. The new library looks real nice. I'll post some more pics of it soon

Day 1 - Wednesday 26 APR 23 We got up at oh dark thirty to get ready for our little hop down south to San Diego trying very hard not to wake up Maria’s mum Carmen, who will be house sitting, and our cat Stiv. The latter to no avail since animals seem to feel the different energy inside the house. Stiv is never a happy camper when we take off because he tends to get spoiled rotten when we are home, and you better believe he knows it! The South Bay yellow cab, actually a black painted Toyota Prius, since gone are the days of the Ford Crown Vic taxi cabs, pulled out in front of the homestead at 0630 hours. The cabbie was a friendly gent hailing from Kabul, Afghanistan, who made the ride up the 405 to LAX uneventful. Once at the airport, the automated self-check in at United’s Terminal 7 was a breeze, a curb agent volunteered to take care of our 3 bags and guaranteed they would be going to us to San Diego, as opposed to Istanbul, Turkey, and going through TSA security was painless, thanks to the words “TSA pre-check” stamped on our boarding passes. We completed a half-marathon to Gate 86B since, for some reason, our departure gates are always at the very end of the terminal, and waited the obligatory 55 min for boarding to start, which was at 0815 hrs. Took our seats, 2C and 2D inside the Bombardier Regional Jet which departed off the gate right on time at 0840 hrs. Taxied to runway 25R where we were No. 2 for takeoff and, after the captain gunned his two engines, slipped the surly bonds of the city of angels. Right before Catalina Island, we made a hook shank left and followed the So Cal coast from L.A. County to Orange County, to San Diego County. Flight time was a very brief 29 minutes, most of which in the beginning was spent reaching our cruising altitude of 14,000 feet. This was followed by roughly 10 minutes of cruising and shut eye time, before the little gongs went off, indicating our initial descent into Lindbergh Field. Not enough time for the lone flight attendant to perform any beverage service, with a hot piping breakfast and a first-rate movie on the non-existent overhead monitors completely out of the question. Flying into San Diego is always an interesting approach however, this morning, as it had been in L.A., we were dealing with overcast skies. When we did break through that layer, we were already above Balboa Park and on finals to runway 9. A picture-perfect wheels down was followed by a short taxi to Terminal 1. Lots of building going on a Lindbergh Field! So, the next plan was to find some breakfast since we had skipped that due to our early departure. We decided to take a cab which took us to the Denny’s at 1601 Rosecrans. Afterwards, another cab took us to the B-Street Cruise Terminal at about 1134 hours which turned out to be great timing because there was no waiting, anywhere inside or outside. We handed our luggage to a porter and entered the Broadway cruise terminal building proper via one of the south facing doors. Just inside, we handed our passports and boarding pass info. to a friendly agent who conducted a casual inspection and directed us around the corner to security. This involves going through airport-like screening (metal detector for humans and X-ray machine for carry-ons) operated by contract security. After this was done, we moseyed in a westerly direction through said terminal for the actual check in process which via the “fast lane’ assisted by another friendly agent. They’ve been using "facial recognition" for a while now in SD. The machine takes a flattering pic and then "spits" out a little paper boarding pass with minimum info on it. Your actual /ship's I.D./room key is in a sealed envelope in the mail slot outside your cabin. Last up was the obligatory welcome aboard pics by K-dam’s photo staff before boarding the younger sister of HAL’s Eurodam via an escalator and the shoreside/airport like retractable gangway to Deck 3 where ship security scanned us on. Our cabin is on Rotterdam deck, starboard side mid-ships, not far from the Neptune Lounge where concierges Aiko and Aley (her relief) “reside” and do one heck of a job keeping their guests happy. Also met our lead cabin steward, Riza who will be taking care of our home away from home, along with his assistant, Abdul. Next order of business was to get to a local supermarket because bottom dwelling dull pencil in the box, which would be me, forgot to bring his razor blades and since I’m not currently competing in the Stanley Cup playoffs in the NHL, 10 days without shaving would be a no no. So, off we went down to that same gangway, and outside via a still pretty empty terminal building, outside where we flagged down a cabbie who whisked us to the Ralph’s on G Street in downtown San Diego, waited for us outside while we made our purchase of razor blades and a six-pack of Coke Zero bottles, and then zoomed us back to Nieuw A which had an All-Aboard time of 3:30 PM today! The mandatory passenger “muster drill” is now a pretty relaxed affair and entails watching the entire safety video on your cabin TV (if you only watch the first minute, your TV, which has a brain of its own, will not change to any other channels. We then moseyed down to Deck 3 where you physically check in with an attendant via his electronic hand-held device, and who then sends you on your way with a reminder to listen to the captain’s P/A announcement later on prior to departure. Copy that! Back at our cabin, we unpacked our bags - lots of closet and drawer space available, plus a walk-in closet/ makeup area, a large bathroom with a double sink and both a shower as well as a tub enclosure. Nieuw Amsterdam let go of her lines and shoved off her berth at 4:25 PM with Capt. Jeroen (his No. 2 is also a Jeroen, as is his relief, Jeroen being a popular name in the Netherlands) backing his big ship up, turning her around in the Bay, being vewy, vewy careful not to back into, not one, but three, flattops moored at Naval Air Station North Island on carrier row. The three were the Nimitz-class carriers, and sisters; USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). We then followed the perimeter of Naval Air Station North Island, passing Naval Base Point Loma on our starboard side, while heading towards Point Loma itself (two lighthouses; the one in the pics is Old Point Loma light from 1855) and the Pacific Ocean where the pilot was dropped off on his fast boat. Instead of the usual turn to port and a southerly course, the big ship turned to starboard and started chugging northbound on our way to the land of our friendly neighbors to the north! (to be con't)

Home away from home for the next 10 days! Beats my old security officer cabin (see last pic) on A-Deck by a New York minute! 🤪

Made it to the B Street Cruise Terminal and Nieuw A after a wholesome petit dejeuner of Moons over my Hammy at a local Denny's on Rosecrans. She's looking good!

Wheels down SAN / Lindbergh Field! Finals, as usual, took us smack over Balboa Park and the museums, as well as over the Aladdin Airport Parking structure, our normal spot for the car when driving to SD for a Mex Riviera cruise. The rollout after landing on Runway 9 took us right by MCRD San Diego. Those iconic yellow buildings are still the same as when I went through as a 19-yr old. Total flight time on this very short hop from LAX was 28 min 😃

It's coming back to me! I wrote a report on that incident! 😉 All the best!

Thanks and give Bill (please thank him for his service, no doubt during Vietnam) a big oorah for me (USMC 76-80, just after Vietnam but lots of Vietnam vets in the Corps then, incl. all my D.I.'s at MCRD San Diego)

Looked at a town car car/driver and at Super Shuttle. Then decided on UA Express using sky miles so it didn't cost us anything 😉 We'll be waving back at ya when we're alongside the city of the Bay!

Thanks Gerrie! Please give Maurice, the original honey bunny, our best wishes and congratulations with/on his birthday! Take care/Be safe! John & Maria

Dankjewel, volgende keer mischien, goeie reis aan jou/jullie ook toegewenst! / Thanks a bunch, perhaps next time, wishing you/yours a great voyage also!

Leaving tomorrow morning for San Diego for a 4-day northbound Pacific Coastal on Nieuw Amsterdam to Vancouver, BC, with a stop in always really nice Victoria, BC, followed by a (separate) 7-day Alaska inside passage journey with stops in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. Since we are not returning to San Diego this time, we are leaving the hooptee at home with Stiv, our cat who will not be a happy camper, but has Maria's mum to take care of him, and flying the, at one time, friendly skies of United Express on a approx. 35 min. flight to Lindbergh Field on a Canadian-designed and built Bombardier CRJ-701ER (CL-600-2C10). If interested, travel along with us 😉

Sorry, that address for Pipi's should read Guadalupe Sanchez with an "n" Also, besides "El Barco" for "the boat" you can also tell the cabbie you want to get to "El Crucero" the "cruise ship"

For Cabo, during the last several years, we've had lunch inside the marina at a place called "Karlito's Cantina" It has a thatched/palapa roof and looks out over the marina (come off the main pier where the tenders drop you off and follow the inner perimeter of the marina, making two right turns - when you get to the faux lighthouse, you've gone too far)). Good for cold cervezas, a Margarita or Daiquiri and enchiladas For PV, I would definitely have lunch at Restaurante Pipi's. Take a taxi to get there and make sure you and the driver agree on the fare begore he takes off. Address is C. Guadalupe Sabchez 804, Centro PV 48304. It's about a 20 min drive. After you're done with lunch, follow Calle Pipila westbound on foot to get to the Malecon. You can pick up a cab to get back to the ship anywhere from there. Tell the cabbie you want to go to "El Barco" at the "Terminal Maritima" The box above the balcony door is connected to the door bell outside your cabin door (so your main entry door, not your balcony door! 😉 ) which balcony cabins, at one time had, and some still do. If you are on your balcony and someone presses the bell, you are made aware of that action via that box that some folks believe is a camera 😬 - it s not!. Give it a try when you check out your cabin and see a bell on the outside door Enjoy your cruise! We will, but we're going in the opposite direction!