Naismith

Of course the thin print news digests that many ships offered in the Before Times went away..... But some cruise lines are giving pax free access to a national newspaper via their app. Does the NCL app offer access to USA Today, NYT or some other source to read during breakfast?

I think we would be offended if someone wrote that everyone in Boston is Catholic. There is much more religious diversity than one might expect. On the island of Sumatra, about 35% of the people are Christian. There was an incredibly humble and effective German missionary who came to the island from Germany in the 1800s, learned the language and customs before trying to talk to anyone about Christianity, and translated the New Testament into the Batak tribal language. Our room steward on the Nieuw Amsterdam, Riben, is from that Batak tribe. The crew who delivered room service was also from that island, living a short distance away from our last apartment. Christmas is a legal holiday in Indonesia. Even in Jakarta, on more-Muslim Java, my friends are posting pictures of Christmas trees in the shopping malls, etc. In my experience, any gift would be welcome.

In the before-Covid times, I enjoyed meeting interesting tablemates. On our NA cruise last month, we ate alone. We did both Gala meals and one visit to Tamarind eating inside; all other meals were outside on deck or in our room. While it is true that a few things (escargot) are not available in the Lido, other things are not available in the MDR. On a Caribbean-themed night, we noticed that behind the salad station, there was a bin full of rambutan, a wonderful tropical fruit from Southeast Asia. I pointed and asked for two; she gave me four. When an (Indonesian) waiter came by to take our plates, he saw the peels and recognized the fruit, asked if we brought them aboard; he had never seen them on the ship before. They were surprisingly fresh; I wondered if they may be used for smoothies. I hope that some of the Indonesian crew got to enjoy any leftovers. Rambutan are red fruit with various spines sticking out. The Indonesian word for hair on a person's head is "rambut," to they are "hairy fruit," which is a good description.

Some good news is that there is a fantastic signal at Half Moon Cay nowadays (Welcome to the Bahamas!), so we were able to make calls, post to Facebook, etc. The bad news is that since there was not a great signal on our last visit (pre-Covid), I did not bring a backup battery and had seriously depleted the phone battery by the time we returned to the ship;)

Yup, Have got the "Welcome to Haiti message" and used it for about 15 minutes--enough to catch up on DuoLingo and download mail.

Okay, my new favorite from recent NA was the onion bread. Carmelized onions on top of a somewhat sweet, fine-crumb bread. Perfect with herbal tea in the afternoon. (My husband was a very good sport about the onion breath.)

I am not sure what you mean by "get on with it like they have their entire lives." I appreciate that the crew come from many places around the globe and mask-wearing may seem foreign to some, but if the Indonesians were working at home, they would likely also be wearing a mask at their job there as well. At least on the islands where I have friends, if the many pictures in my Facebook feed are accurate at all. They are wearing masks at holiday parties, school events, church services and so on. Mask wearing was not unusual even before Covid.

Wow, that is a lot-I am glad we requested once-a-day, no ice. And I thought the assistant-changing was a symptom of holes in the crew due to illness, but who knows.

Totally agree about the fragility of the cruise industry. Very serious concern. Curious as to which crew members told you that they were miserable? I admit that I tended to talk mostly with the Indonesian crew, but among the Indonesians I did not get that vibe. And when I look at the Facebook feed of my friends in Indonesia, people are masked there as they attend holiday parties and school activities, so it seems part of kehidupan sehari-hari, everyday life. But a lot of Asians became accustomed to masking during previous epidemics that missed North America (e.g., SARS) and also when the air quality is not great, which happens regularly in all the big cities. In my visits to Singapore, Taiwan etc. in pre-Covid times, I don't think I ever went a day without seeing someone wearing a mask.

This was our first return to cruising since Nov 2019, having had a cruise cancelled in the interim. We had an inside guarantee, but the upgrade fairy was busy and gave us 1098, a Main deck ocean view that is not near one of the noisy passageways or performance venues. It was delightful. We carried our luggage on, because folks here explained that entrance from Port Everglades is on the second deck, which meant we only had to carry bags down one easy flight of steps. Our steward was from the Indonesian island where we used to live, and I was glad that we got to see him when we headed out to a Gala Night—I wore a garment that people from his tribe would wear for formal occasions. I was shocked that I could get a seat at Lincoln Center Stage when I showed up two minutes before. (Other cruises, one needed to get there 20 minutes beforehand.) So I was not surprised to learn that there were only 1,668 guests (about 80%), after a Thanksgiving cruise with 2,200 (including lots of families). Lincoln Center Stage was excellent, but the violist was going to be leaving the ship when we disembarked—not sure if all of them were ending their contracts. They did not do a “Meet the Artists” session. Also, seemed like fewer LCS performances because there were TWO nights of BBC Earth on a 7-day cruise, which I refuse to attend again after seeing the replay of those baby lizards being eaten by snakes that I didn’t care for three years ago, either. We used the Navigator to order from Dive-In for lunch on one of the sea days. I was surprised that after it gave me the green check and a number, the order disappeared, very different from other restaurant ordering apps that I had used. It did eventually send me a message when it was ready, and someone pointed out the monitor (below/to the right of the Dive-In counter) where I could see my name and number. I speak fairly fluent Indonesian, and we had many conversations with workers on the ship. We had been to every island they came from, and most of their towns (or at least a city near their village), and many of them were a bit homesick, and happy to talk about things at home. One of the housekeeping workers had lost family in the recent earthquake. For Gala attire, my husband wore a dressy batik shirt from Java, no tie required. I wore a necklace from Bali and a ulos from Sumatra. We had our formal pictures taken by Novi from Bali, who seems to be one of the few female photographers. She was very good, catching the best angles to minimize glare from our glasses, etc. A few days in, our television stopped working, and since it is really a computer, an IT guy was sent to reboot after a guest services staffer identified the issue. When we came back from supper, we walked past guest services, and that worker asked us if the TV was working now. My husband said, “We think so,” and I added, “Mudah-mudahan!” which is Indonesian for “Hopefully!” Another guy at the desk turned his head at that, and I guess he asked who we were, because the next morning as I walked past he greeted me by name in Indonesian. My one language failure happened at lunch on the third day. As others have reported, that morning all of the crew were suddenly wearing masks. At lunch a worker who we had talked with a few times brought us drinks, and I asked him if there were a lot of sick crew. He looked around carefully, like he was not supposed to be talking about it, and I did not understand his answer. My husband likes to collect paper money from every place he visits. He will typically go into a shop, buy something in dollars, and ask for change in local currency. But banking is a Big Deal on Grand Cayman, and none of the shops would give him change in a different currency than was tendered. But while he snorkeled, I went up to Camana Bay, lovely gardens and observation tower that is also a work of art. I took the local bus back to the port, and I was the only passenger remaining when I was dropped off, so I offered the driver enough dollars to provide a good tip and asked for a Cayman dollar, which he was willing to provide. Mischief managed. We were impressed with the quality of the multimedia EXC talks, which depend in part on the acting ability of the cruise director and Erin was great. She mentioned that next year they are going to add one called “City on the Sea,” which shows a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the laundry as well as the bridge (since they are no longer offering the bridge or galley tours). Our stop in Falmouth was cancelled when we were in sight of the island, but winds were high and expected to get higher (and keep in mind that some of the shore excursions are 6+ hours, not easy to return). The next day, the captain explained that there are no tug boats available in Falmouth, and the channel is kind of a narrow back-in, which made a lot of sense. I was impressed with the rapid shift to a Sea Day; by 10 am new activities had not only been added to the Navigator, but a revised printed daily schedule was delivered to our room. The Navigator includes free access to The New York Times, so no lack of news for those who need that fix. The printed crosswords were available up in the Crow’s Nest, which makes sense in terms of the games there, but I have seen them at Guest Services on other ships. At home we care for a 94-year-old relative, so we try to be cautious about catching something contagious. We wore KN-95 masks in all indoor public areas, at performances and in elevators, and in line to leave/return to the ship. We ate most meals outside on the Lido pool deck. We did eat indoors three times, for the gala nights and Tamarind, but left masks on when not actually eating. And we always had a table alone, so we missed out on the joy of meeting other travelers. But that seemed a reasonable compromise between pretending there was no illness and staying home. So overall we had a great time.

Thanks, you were right. It was used for crew appreciation.

Thanks again, that was so reassuring and worked perfectly for us. The tenders in Grand Cayman hold 250 people, and we were on the first one out. We even had time to tour the National Museum before heading to the snorkeling excursion, so that worked well.

Does anyone remember which deck of the Nieuw Amsterdam is used for embark/debark at Port Everglades?

What genius! Helpful idea.

But to be fair, those may vary depending on how long the ensemble has been performing together. I was stunned at the quality of the Lincoln Center Stage quintet on my last HAL cruise. But apparently it was their last cruise together at the end of a 4-month contract. They admitted that they only get a week or so to rehearse before their first performance, and were better at the end than the beginning of their tour.

I used to know this answer on previous pre-Covid cruises before this year's high inflation. Nowadays, what do folks consider an acceptable tip for the crew member who is delivering a room service order?

Thanks that is exactly what I had been searching for and could not find.

We are going on a short 1-week cruise, so we were planning on just one carry-on bag each. But.... Reef-safe sunscreen is a must for our planned water play, and we are having a hard time finding anything smaller than 8 oz. (kinda the wrong season to look for sunscreen). An 8-oz. tube would be a problem if we were flying, but we are not. We could move it into a clean small travel squeeze bottle, but lose the proof of the reef-free designation, and in the past some tour operators have checked. So how strict are they at Port Everglades security? Same standards as TSA, or more flexible?

Yikes, I am starting to worry....We are going to be in Grand Cayman arriving on the Nieuw Amsterdam on a day when there are five (5) cruise ships in port, with ours arriving last at 9 a.m. We booked an excursion with Captain Marvin because there were no HAL excursions showing for that port for more than a month after we booked the cruise. With a 9 a.m. arrival in port, they seemed to think that 10:45 check-in at their office across from the tender terminal would be possible. Any insight from those who might have tried making that kind of connection?

What is the "specalty Mariner cocktail"? Any options for folks who do not drink alcohol?

We spent a month this summer driving around Macedonia-Albania-Bulgaria. Our rental car had built-in GPS, but didn't always recognize our English spelling. However, Google maps is not quite as reliable in that part of Europe. We regularly got sent off to goat paths. And since some of the real streets can appear like goat paths, just the cobbles a bit smoother, it was frustrating. Our upcoming cruise is a vacation from the vacation.

We also have T-Mobile, and it is indeed seamless and super-easy. But I admit, I kinda miss the cruises of 20 years ago, when we could truly be unplugged for days at a time....so relaxing....

I can understand how intimidating that Indonesia can be for visitors. I lived there for a few years and speak enough to get around, but I remember the first trip. I am not sure of your ports, but my friend Sihol Manullang, while living on Bali, has also arranged tours on Lombok and Java. All his drivers speak English and have safe, air-conditioned cars (usually seat up to 6 passengers) with a reasonable daily rate. Although a few tours are listed on the website, he is very flexible and has always organized custom tours for us, including going into a local home to learn to cook a native dish, coming up with the perfect hiking trail when we told him the length/difficulty we were up for. Of course a ship's tour is always preferable due to the guarantee of getting back/ship waiting. But if you find yourself heading for Bali and want to organize DIY, definitely check with Sihol (see-hole) at Obali Tours https://www.obalitours.com/ What'sApp is the contact of choice across Indonesia, so if you have that app you can phone businesses and attractions there at no cost via wifi. Semoga perjalanan aman dan bahagia! (Best wishes for a safe and happy trip.)

Well it depends on the kind of OBC, and posters who have not booked recently may be unaware of the terms of some OBC. In late September/early October (through October 11), there was an offer of $200 OBC per cabin but it specifically said, "Onboard Credit Offer (“Kicker Offer”): ...Onboard Credit is in USD, is neither refundable nor transferable, and has no cash value. Onboard Credit expires at the end of the Eligible Cruise and may not be used in the casino, for Crew Appreciation, or on any other specified fees or items." So if your OBC is part of that "kicker offer," or another with limitations in the fine print, then that exclusion may be what HAL staff are referencing.

Okay, answering my own question. I checked with the tour operator, who agreed that would be too tight and suggested the slightly shorter tour at 11:15 a.m. He said that there were still openings "...on Viator and our website." So I went to Viator, and it was showing full. I went to the Captain Marvin website, and booked there. But I also let them know about the issue at Viator, because they will not sail if fewer than 10 book the trip. And if there is a problem with the Viator website, then there will be frustrated people who would have booked. He was going to check the interface.