Copper10-8

Sure, go right ahead

The Deck 2 Pinnacle Bar on the four Vistas (and the two Signatures) would be a grand location and would work

The famous double door entry/exit of the water closet in the NS cabins on the three Pinnacle class ships

I should have done a better job hiding the child bride 😉 Would have been fun meeting you in person! That Mariners reception was short and sweet/in and out. We hung around afterwards to chat with Av8rix (Sue) and Vict0riann (Ann & Pat) and some others - All very nice folks! And yes, that new new cruise passenger welcome center, "Los Alambiques", and co-located themed shopping center, "Hacienda Tequilera", now two years old, is a bit of a maze, trying their best to get you into their stores whose merchandize ain't cheap. Every time you take a turn and think it will lead to the ship, there are more stores. As you know, we were there with Carnival Panorama and those little seven person golf shuttle carts had a hard time handling the large amount of pax, plus at least one of them ran out of juice, and had to be taken out of service to recharge its batteries to the chagrin of the (mostly Carnival) waiting pax! Me thinks they need bigger shuttles there, perhaps a la Mazatlan

The cabanas on Sun Deck belong to "The Retreat" which is listed on the deck plans. This is K-dam with tiny drawings of those infamous cabanas 😉 Yes, one has to do a bit of research to learn more bout the topic "cabanas" and the common sense (if present) side rules of "blaring music" Plus Lido deck, port side; more tiny lines 😉

Thanks Susie; It was a ship's tour, as was our first time flying there in the Cesnna fourteen-seater, but the tour outfit will be more than happy to take you there (and back) as part of a private tour also

Kazu / Jacqui, Welcome Home after your ordeal!

Bingo! And you used the correct terminology this time, Meneer uit Den Haag! 😜

Thanks Steve, and that would be nice! I was under (the) cover(s) most of the time although some CC posters did reveal me a la the old "Are you Mister Koningsdam" icebreaker 😉

Right you are! Bottom-dwelling me even got the right movie poster and still got the wrong movie title! 😴 Not the sharpest pencil in the box! Thanks for the correction!

WED 04 JAN 23 – Day Seven – Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (Con't) All Aboard in PV was scheduled for 6;30 PM. However, due to two unfortunate medical disembarks of one pax (unfortunately poster Kazu) and one crew member, K-dam did not depart Puerto Vallarta until about 7:40 PM en-route back to San Diego. Capt. Robert Jan slowly moved his ship sideways swinging towards port and, once clear of the dock, moved towards the harbor entrance and open sea. Puerto Vallarta’s pilot, the same one for many years, was disembarked at about 8.00 PM and once aboard his pilot boat, dipped his BB hat, took a bow and waived several times to K-dam’s captain with his boat’s whistle blowing also. Nice gesture! Dinner for the two of us was back inside Club Orange with service from Andy this time. The entertainment tonite was the 3rd show on this particular cruise by the Step One Dance Company in “In Tandem,” without a doubt our most favorite show of theirs because it involves all fast-paced Latin/Brazilian/Italian songs accompanied by high tempo dancing. Loved that one! This show also included the male vocalist of the BB King's All-Star band. We finished up the night with the Rolling Hills Rock Room and at Billboard Onboard. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be day one of two sea days heading back to our port of origin

WED 04 JAN 23 – Day Seven – Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (Con't) 30 more minutes up the road, and we arrived in San Sebastián del Oeste with a first stop at Cafe de Altura La Quinta Mary, besides a coffee shop, also a coffee plantation. It was established in the 1930’s by the Sanchez family and they are still at it. Guide Juan Carlos explained the process of growing. Picking and processing coffee to us. After this roughly 30 min. visit, our group was split up into two Mercedes-Benz Sprinters which drove us on the ever present cobblestones (all the roads of the town are uneven cobblestones, no exceptions) to our lunch location, Restaurante-Bistro Los Arrayanes. We were served a nice local lunch including handmade tortillas with queso and spicy salsa, fajitas, rice and beans plus cheesecake for desert and a cold cervesa to wash it all down. After lunch, Juan Carlos who, btw can only be described as very passionate about his job, funny, entertaining, and very caring in a genuine way, gave us about 45 minutes to walk the town, visit the church and small local museum, the police station, the stores, learn about the town’s history, and meet him at the town plaza with the really nice gazebo. From there, the MB Sprinters took us back to our bus for the two hour trip down the mountain back to the terminal and K-dam. Unfortunately, the drop off point was not where we had boarded the bus at Muelle No. 2, but at Muelle No. 1 and the new shopping terminal. Coincidence? I think not! But back to the tour, we really enjoyed going back to San Sebastián del Oeste! It’s an interesting little place! So, that new terminal shopping area at PV Muelle No. 1 from which you will eventually reach your gate that leads to your ship’s gangway can best be described as one of those cruise line / Carnival-financed shopping area similar to Grand Turk. Whether you want to or not, you are forced to transit different stores which sell everything from alcohol to cartons of cigarettes, to boxes of rum cakes. Quite ingenious but also very commercialized! The authentic PV flea market is still there outside T1, as are the noisemaking parrots.

For those interested, some 'white spaces' on HAL ships: Security Officer cabin Bridge A-Deck Marshaling Area pilot break "O.B." - Officers Bar Crew Mess Crew Mess - Crew Bingo! Crew Officer's office - Sorta kinda like the crew purser who handles crew admin stuff A-Deck Marshaling Area during the night prior to pax disembarkation A-Deck Marshaling Area - Fire Drill A-Deck "I-95" - Fire Drill with medical team handling a "victim" Forward Mooring Deck during a Panama Canal transit with Panama Canal Authority line handlers onboard Crew stairwell (no carpet 😉) during training with the the 'ascender' / stair climber used to transport mobility impaired guests between decks during general power failures / no elevators Engine Room workshop - Watertight Door training Captain's Office Training Room - HAL Academy admin. course - some of you might recognize the captain, a huge Formula 1 racing fan, and very popular with his crew, no matter which ship Bosun Store all the way forward during a "Family Makan" for the Deck Dept. (Indonesian food being served) - Check out the big spare propeller / screw behind the security team in pic #2 Security Officer's Office ECR (Engine Control Room) Bosun Store - Confined Space rescue drill - One of the cadets will play the role of "victim" which is SOP Marshaling Area - Tug-o-War and sack races during the Indonesian Independence Day celebration - The engineers seem to always win! Where's the beef? A-Deck "I-95"

Opa!

Yep, that's pretty much as she wrote 😉 Of course, for lesser offenses, there's still skinning taters in the (white space) galley or spit shining officer's shoes in the (white space) paint store for a day

You forgot the gimbaled crew bowling alley on D-Deck, very popular with the crew ................

Correction; "Brig" on a ship, Sir! 😉 Btw, there are no longer brigs on HAL ships; the last dedicated brigs were on the "S"-class ships

Blank areas on deck plans are 'crew only' areas such as the galley, the mooring (fwd & aft) decks, storage areas, offices, etc.

WED 04 JAN 23 – Day Seven – Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Koningsdam pulled into the Terminal Maritima at approximately 6:05 AM. Once inside the basin, Captain Robert Jan, using his fwd. thrusters and Azi-pods, turned his ship 90 degrees using available space until her bow was facing northbound alongside Muelle No. 2, the one opposite the PV Sam’s Club on the other side of the Carretera Al Aeropuerto, always a crew favorite. Having arrived in PV one hour before us, Carnival Panorama was berthed at Muelle No. 3, while the prime spot, Berth No. 1 for unknown reasons would remain empty today. The area leading to Dock #1 recently received a new terminal building full of modern airport-like duty free shops. We had moved the clocks forward by another hour last night so we are now two hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time. Puerto Vallarta is a city of approx. 250,000 inhabitants located at the center of the 25-mile-wide Banderas Bay (Bay of Flags) and alongside the Sierra Madre mountain range (Think Night of the Iguana: “Baaadges?? I don’t got to tchow you no stinkin’ baaadges”). The name honors former governor Ignacio Luis Vallarta. The city proper comprises four main areas: the hotel zone along the shore to the north, Olas Altos - Col Zapata to the south of the Calle river (recently named Zona Romantics in some tourist brochures), the Centro along the shore between these two areas, and several residential areas to the east of the hotel zone. The oldest section of the town is the area of Col. Centro near the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, especially Hidalgo Street. The climate here is tropical (and can be humid) with sunny days most of the year. The rainy season takes place from July to September. The economy is based mainly on tourism and construction with a small percentage derived from agriculture and tropical fruits. To the north it borders the southwest part of the state of Nayarit. To the east it borders the municipality of Mascot a as well as very picturesque San Sebastian del Oeste, and to the south it borders the municipalities of Tampa de Allende and Cabo Corrientes. Puerto Vallarta is frequently shortened to "Vallarta", while English speakers call the city P.V. for short. Once again had our breakfast in the Club Orange around 8:15 AM, early for us, why? We had an excursion to the town of San Sebastián del Oeste today with an 8:15 AM meet on the pier outside. Once there, it was a bit of a sea of humanity off K-dam’s gangway with several tours departing within minutes of each other. There was a “seeing off committee” at the foot of said gangway consisting of K-dam’s asst. hotel general manger, Glenn, her cruise & travel director, Nick, and her security officer Simon. Met our friendly tour guide, Juan Carlos, who soon took our happy group of 37 to the open lot north of Mule No. 2 where our bus and driver Fernando was waiting for us. Boarded the nice-looking charabanc and we were soon off and running for the approx. two hour / 40 mile drive up the mountains. Nestled high up in the Sierra Madre Occidental / Western mother mountain range in the western part of Jalisco State at 4,900 feet, San Sebastián del Oeste is a small former silver mining town which dates back to the Spanish colonial time of 1605, when it was a gold and silver mining center, once housing over 4,000 people. Today, San Sebastian has become a tourist destination, as well as still being home to about 600 inhabitants. We actually visited San Sebastián del Oeste once before some thirteen years ago, back on January 4, 2004, however, at that time the road up the mountain had not yet been paved and, instead was a rutted dirt road. As a result, that particular shorex involved an approx. 20-minute flight from Aeropuerto Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Internacional in Puerto Vallarta to a tiny dirt airstrip adjacent San Sebastián del Oeste in a Cessna 208B Caravan, a strutted high wing, 9-seat single engine turboprop with a fixed tricycle landing gear. A really cool experience at that time! For our second visit, our first stop by coach would be at the Hacienda Don Lalin Raicilla Distillery, where they distill tequila. It is located right smack on the other side of the spectacular Puente Progresso / El Progresso Bridge which spans the San Sebastián River Gorge. We were led to an elevated open patio where our host, owner and distiller, Lalo, proceeded to let us taste five of his tequila creations; Mescal (yowzah!), Mandarin Orange, Chocolate, Almond (Lalo called that one ‘breakfast’) and pure tequila (yowzah again!). We walked away from the hacienda and back on the coach having purchased one bottle each of the mandarin orange and almond.

Dunno know about your mandarins in segments, Brian but on K-dam they were serving vanilla Greek yoghurt or plain Greek yoghurt and both were mahvelous, if not piquant 🙂

Just a couple of years ago 😉 a young Copper10-8

Morning Roy for Rich 😉 They have built a two-ship cruise pier attached to one of the causeways at Fuerte Amador - It is supposed to be 90% finished but looks like they are already using it Some more info: https://panamarealtyzone.com/en/new-cruise-terminal-in-panama-city-what-you-need-to-know/

HAL still has "Covid isolation" cabins on all their ships, so incl. K-dam, and will continue to have them for the foreseeable future while Covid is with us. No end in sight for that one. It is part of their protocol now Yes, there were a high number of "medical response team" (the old Brightstar) announcements on this cruise which included, very unfortunately, one death (heart attack) and one crew member with a case of pancreatitis. These cases resulted in medical disembarkations in Cabo San Lucas (two times, incl. the unscheduled stop on the way back), Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta (two times incl. poster Kazu)

I believe the feedback would/should be something to the tune of; We have investigated the matter and have contacted both individuals involved (should they be able to be identified). The matter has been handled internally

FYI -The cabanas are staffed by the Beverage Dept., so the beverage manager and, above him/her, the F&B manager would be the one with overall supervision