seagarsmoker

Bon Voyage!

Thanks for the Daily Report and I hope everyone has a great day! First time on a Pinnacle-class ship – NS impressions Generally, we found this ship to be similar to the NA and Eurodam, which is fine with us. The ship itself was beautiful, and there was a great flow of traffic considering this cruise was fully booked. We liked that the smoking area on the lido deck by the Seaview pool bar was twice the size of the NA. We still had to stand and wait for a table a few times, especially on sea days. However, the wait wasn’t too long. Compared to the last two cruises on the NA, when we had service there, it was great. That being said, this was the area we noticed a cutback in the staff. Some days, we would have only 2 or 3 staff members there, other days there were the usual 4 or 5 which was perfect. We got to know the staff there very well and even though they work long hours, they usually always had a smile on their faces. The bartenders and servers knew me well enough by the second day, that when I raised my arm with our two room keys, they knew I wanted a half-glass of fountain coke and a glass of diet coke for Suzi. I think the only thing we noticed differently about the ship was how the lido food area was split into smaller sections. The concept is great, and it did alleviate the long lines we see on the NA, however, we found many times by the time we went to two or three stations to get what we wanted for our meal, by the time we sat down, our food was already getting cold. Overall, we enjoyed this ship, rarely felt crowded, and would go back on it with no hesitation.

Hi Jacqui, we booked another cruise this weekend. 😀 November 23, 2024 Zuiderdam 11-Day Southern Caribbean Wayfarer Thank you!

We've been on Westerdam, Eurodam, NA and NS and the NS (sold out) and except for first day, I didn't feel it was more crowded than the other ships. Yes, the NS didn't have staff ratio compared to the other ships, but from everything I've read, the lower staff numbers are now the norm on all the ships.

Checking in

Bon Voyage!

New captain came aboard 2 weeks ago today.

There she is

Checking in

Thanks for the Daily Report and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Odd & End items from our cruise last week: No potato chips for the entire cruise. We ordered room service for lunch twice, Suzi wanted a club sandwich and chips, and we were told both times they had no chips. Pre-cruise placed an order for chocolate-covered strawberries for my birthday. The concierge called that afternoon and said the strawberries were bad and would not be delivered. We asked for a fruit bowl in our room and were told they only had bananas as most of the fruit wasn’t edible. Our room steward asked us before we left for dinner what kind of cookies I liked, I said, oatmeal. After dinner, I stopped by the Lido to get a glass of milk as I have always done on HAL (I like a cold glass of milk before going to sleep at night). They do not have milk on the lido as the other ships do. So, I stopped by and asked the Concierge, she made a couple of calls and said room service would deliver it. Well, that started a bizarre week-long string of events. I head down to the casino and Suzi goes shopping. When I get back to the cabin, there are 2 glasses of milk sitting on the table and a plate of 8 oatmeal cookies. It would take me a week to eat 8 cookies… The next morning, I tried to explain to our room stewards that I can’t eat that many oatmeal cookies and if there is a way of getting a sealed bottle of milk instead of an open glass of it. That evening, Suzi is getting ready to take a shower and hears someone knocking on the door – it’s room service, and now they are delivering 4 glasses of milk and a plate of 8 assorted cookies… So, the next day I talked to the concierge and explained the issue. She calls around and finds someone who can deliver a bottle of milk every night and no more cookies! I am thinking, great, this is all straightened out now… That night, once again, Suzi answers the door, and room service wants to deliver 4 bowls of oatmeal…. She explains they we did not order any oatmeal and the person leaves. Fifteen minutes later, someone else knocks on the door, they have a sealed bottle of milk, and tada, a plate of 8 oatmeal cookies…. I made one last attempt to explain this to the room stewards, please, no more oatmeal cookies! Well, you guessed it, every night, for the rest of the cruise, we received a sealed bottle of milk and a plate of 8 assorted cookies… MVI_0002.MP4

Bon Voyage!

Thank you, Jacqui! We will be booking a fall 2024 cruise soon. 🙂

Thanks for the Daily Report and I hope everyone has a great day! Here are some observations from our cruise last week. General Observations – Rule breakers… The staff did a great job with rule breakers. I observed three instances to share. 1) Kids in the adult pool were reported by someone. Two staff members asked them where their parents were, and they said they were in the other pool, staff told them they were not allowed in the Adult pool without parents present and asked them to leave. They did after being told the rules. 2) People smoking outside of the smoking area. We were sitting in the smoking section of the aft Seaview pool area and staff members told two adults who were smoking by the aft railing that they could not smoke there. They needed to smoke in the smoking section, and they complied. 3) We were having dinner at Canaletto’s and observed the manager informing two diners (one wearing shorts) as they sat down that they were not dressed appropriately and were not following guidelines for the restaurant. The husband made some unpleasant comments to the manager and the wife grabbed his arm and forced him to leave. A couple of general observations about Canaletto – HAL needs to do something about this restaurant. We ate there three times, all very good to excellent meals, wonderful staff, and exceptional service. We noticed almost every night, people would walk in, with their buffet food and just sit down and start eating like it’s part of the lido seating area. The manager cannot greet everyone as they walk to the entrance, they have other duties, so they are not to blame. She or one of the staff members would explain this was a restaurant and they needed reservations. Maybe a door of some sort would help. We talked with the Canaletto manager almost every night. Her (and one of the servers’) background with HAL was from the Pinnacle grill and she was there to help change the Canaletto dining experience. She was trying her best and was a wonderful person. We did find out she will be on the NA on her next contract, so we should see her on our March 2024 cruise.

I turn 65 on our NA cruise in March of 2024.

Nieuw Amsterdam Eastern Caribbean 7 days 03/16/25 Thank you!

We just booked Nieuw Amsterdam (EC-7) 03/16/25 in suite 7132. 😀 We are still deciding on fall cruise for 2024.

Not as of last week it hasn't started.

Agree 100% with your assessment. Compared to our last cruise (11/22), this cruise on the NS (3/23), we thought the variety and quality of food for both dinner and lunch were better. We ate at two of the specialty restaurants and both Canaletto & Pinnacle were both excellent.

I was just looking at the HAL website and noticed October through December 2024 is available for Caribbean booking. 🙂

Long story short, they received a bunch of bad fruit last week. They originally offered us bananas, but my wife said that was ok, no need for it. On a scale of 10, not having fresh fruit in the room is like a .01 to me.

Thanks for the Daily Report and I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I am not one for writing cruise reviews anymore. I honestly do not have the time. Overall, we had a wonderful cruise, met some great people, our meals were good to excellent, and enjoyed staying in the PS for the first time. That being said, the PS was too big for us. We found ourselves looking for things too often as cabin space was overwhelming. The bathroom was the biggest part of the cabin. A huge oval tub, two sinks, a humungous shower, a sit-down desk/mirror, a towel warmer, and even a scale. Just what I need, something that reminds me how much weight I have gained on vacation… 😊 Another ‘private’ sink and toilet. Nice king-size bed, a 55” TV, and a long hallway with tons of closets and storage. A dining room with a large table, a 55” TV, a living room with a 55” TV, and another bathroom. Also, a kitchen and foyer. I won’t even go over all of the phones… The best perks were special embarkation (walked by an officer to the cabin from the port) and disembarkation (walked to security to assure we were among the first ones off). Louisa was the Neptune Lounge Concierge, and she was absolutely the best we have ever had with HAL (we have been on 10+ Neptune suite cruises). She helped us out a few times and ensured my birthday dinner expectations in the cabin were done correctly. I will say on a personal note, we tipped the highest amount we ever had to date to staff members. 😊 I have attached some photos of the cabin.

Yes, we were given cookies instead.

We just stayed in a PS last week. No fresh fruit, no stationary (let alone personalized), no HAL pen, but we did get fresh flowers.

Yes, very hard indeed!

They were not complimentary on the NS last week (if you wanted an alcoholic beverage, you signed for it with your cabin number and then billed). As for the PS, soft drinks and water in the fridge were complimentary, however, the alcoholic beverages were not.