GRACECRUISE

If I take a longer cruise and want to get $500 in shipboard credit I take the 40,000 points and have them apply $500.00 toward the credit card payment and then buy $500.00 worth of OBC from Holland. I figure that gets me a better deal than converting the 10,000 point increments.

Do you have to wait until after final payment to request it. Normally I do, but that is because we book a cruise after final payment it is due. We did book one early this time and I have been waiting, but if I take that off my to do , great!

Kids like to use them as money when they play super martket!

On a long cruise we have the cabin steward swap out some of the wooden hangers for the wire ones we get back with laundry.

We also use the 3M Hooks all over the room for lanyards by the door or jackets or sweat shirts on cooler climates. Also a small white board to leave notes.

I bring collapsible boxes from dollar store to put in drawers, counter or on shelves. Keep things organized.

We normally have 3 to a cabin so each person get the shoes they wear and 2 other pairs.

On our last 3 cruises everyone had to go to the showroom. We are 4 star and get the priority tendering. We were not given tickets. Tours were called. Priority were called in between or when needed to fill up a tender. At times there were only 10 to 15 of us. They would line us up and send us down the stairs or an internal staff elevator. We never waited more than about 5 minutes. This eliminated people taking the elevators down and getting out to a line and crowd of people. It worked great.

We have done the VOV twice in inside cabins. The weather was cool but still nice enough to sit out (if you like cool weather). We sat out on the promenade deck quite a bit in sweatshirts. If you get the misty weather you may not use it. You may really enjoy Prince Christian Sund sitting on your verandah.

You will have a fantastic time no matter which cabin you are in. Enjoy the cruise.

Unfortunately no VOV this year. I sure wish we were.

I did not use the ship internet. I glanced at the plans and do not think they had unlimited. The shrimp and grits were spicy with the andouille sausage. The Snickers cake is 3 layers of chocolate cake with a peanut butter nougat in between that is light and fully. It had some salted caramel and a chocolate ganache. I hope to try the recipe next week.

Just returned home from the Noordam. Mom and I took an 11 day Caribbean cruise. We drove down and used Park N Fly. They dropped us at ship about 10:30. Check in was a breeze. Went straight through 4 star line. No pictures taken for key card as they used one on file. After a short wait we were on the ship by 11:20. Our original Captain had a family emergency so we had Captain Albert for a few days and then Captain Bowlin ( from the Eurodam, looks like Jay Leno)

Went to room and dropped off carry ons. Next to Library to check out some books. The ship was beautiful. I was surprised that in all of our HAL cruises, this was the first time on the Noordam. We looked around a bit and then headed to the dining room for the welcome back lunch. Funny thing there the dining steward misunderstood my mom and she got two entrees. Being polite, she ate off of both them.

We had an outside obstructed view cabin. Normally we are inside cabin dwellers. The cabin had lots of room. Our cabin steward was great of course. One day he very apologetically told me laundry could not get a stain out of my sleep T shirt. He felt so bad and did not know what to do. I told him it was fine, it was paint and had been on there for a long time. I loved the shirt so it became a sleep shirt. But bless his heart for trying,

The food was very good. They had some of my favorites shrimp and grits, crab cakes and grits, and pork bucco. It appears that they had some new desserts at dinner. The Honey tart, Snickers cake and Chocolate Decadence Cake were some of our favorites. I liked the Snickers Cake so much I got the recipe for that one.

Some of our highlights were the cupcake tea. The cupcakes and scones were fantastic but the topper was they served milkshakes at the end. That was a first for us. The Pinnacle was wonderful. Our amuse bouche was a Creamy Soup with escargot. Neither mom nor I had tried escargot before. The soup was wonderful. (Surprised me that my mom would even try it but she loved it). My favorite dessert in the Pinnacle is the souffle. It has changed. OH my goodness. They added a few berries in the bottom before baking the vanilla souffle. When it comes out of the oven they place a chocolate ball filled with Drambouie on top. You push it down in the hot souffle and it bursts open. Such goodness.

We had 8 ports in 11 days. It was a busy time. We did not do any shore excursions. We spent our time wandering around the ports, shopping and people watching. When we were not in the culinary center watching demos we were out on the Promenade Deck reading and napping. It was not difficult getting a lounger.

Evening entertainment was good. The cast did 3 shows. Costumes, sets and cast were wonderful. Lee Bayliss was the comic. We had the BB King Blues club on board. First time we saw them. WOW. They were always packed. They did have 1 show in the Vista theater and it was packed. They were fantastic. The last night before the DWTS finale they dimmed the lights and started playing Leaving on a Jet plane. Everyone sang along. The Cruise Director come out and talked about the crew. They opened the curtain and it was filled with crew members and they started playing We Are the Champions. Goose bumps all over and a few emotional tears.

Ship headed to dry dock for 10 days once we got off. They told us of some of the things they were doing. Lots of carpet changes, Lido changes, AC blowout and filter changes, azipod work, lots of engine and smokestack stuff, etc. They had 800 contractors coming on. They would have no AC for 8 days, no water for 1 and no hot water for 7. It would kind of like camping, on officer said.

Our experience was wonderful. Really, no negatives for us. We are pretty easy going when it comes to cruising. Put me on a HAL ship and I am happy. A cruise is what you make of it and we had a great time. The ship and the crew were as good as ever.

I am guilty of the foot thing. It stretches my back to put it there but I only do it if no one is sitting next to me. Once someone shows up I take it down. I also hit a good payout when my foot was there so now it becomes a good luck thing. When you play those slots, you need all the help you can get!

We had a standing order with our dining steward for either a plate of avocados or cheese plate on the table with our bread. We could nibble while we looked at the menu or skip apps if they did not look good. There were 3 of us and we had late seating, so we were usually hungry by then. We did have to ask him to cut it back to 1 avocado since the normal plate was two of them. Some days they did not have avocados ripe or available so we would have a cheese plate.

Paraffin wax is an add on you get with a pedicure or manicure where they dip your hands and/or feet fee in hot (warm) paraffin or bees wax. It dries and it peeled off. Makes them soft and hydrates them. It is a nice treat on the feet. Very relaxing. There are different waxes with different scents. You really should try it at least once.

We got ours as part of booking promo (2 $50 cards). But is was nice not to have to keep the receipts and ck them against the print out every couple of days. I would buy them for the ease of it.

Yes they can be shared and can be used for happy hour. Buy one bottle of water and get the second for a dollar (plus 15% service chg). The card was in my name so my room card had to activate it but after that my dad used with no problem.

I think this was the first time the VOV had the all you can drink cards on board. We only had $100 drink card and only used it at happy hour. It was kind of funny watching some ladies in lido pool area with the drink cards. They ordered sodas about every 10 minutes and then loaded them all in her bag and put them on her walker seat and left. It was not a one day deal. We spoke to the Beverage Mgr and Hotel Manager and it appeared people used them at the Explorations Cafe much more than expected. I think they also went crazy on water and soda.

We just got off last week and it was available. They did not have caesar salad listed and it was available. Our server said it was just a printing error. He said all you had to do was ask for it. They also had salmon listed as the fish many many nights.

The VOV 2015 is already out and is on Veendam. Did 2014 on the Veendam and loved it. Book it and have fun!

Have a great time. Hope you get Peter as your dining steward, he was fantastic.

If you are cabbing it from the ship to the airport (after the cruise) and you look across the cab line and see big yellow buses there check them out. For our cruise, they were running a FREE shuttle to the airport. They put your luggage underneath and got it out at your terminal. It was a fantastic service. We were the second stop. Only about 12 people got on. People in the cab line which was long were told but no one would follow us.

No charge but we did tip the driver. The city of Boston sponsers this.

I am happy to say we never had a problem. There were lots of chairs without reserve plaques. We were not behind a steel wall. When we sat out on port days and sail aways not many of the lanai people used them. It may be different if it was a warmer cruise.

The library on the Veendam was great. They had a nice selection of large print books which meant I could read more of them. Keep checking the library, they put more books out as they are checked out. I left a couple hard cover Alex Cross books there in the book exchange.

Just off 35 day vov on the Veendam. We had not problems and would take her again in heartbeat. Our cabin was inside, we were next to crew area and had some noise. Our AC and bathroom were fine. The ship was in great shape. We found seat on the promenade deck easily.

The main dining room food was very good for dinner. They were not long and drawn out and had good selections. We did the lido for breakfast and lunch. Loved the lido for breakfast. Everything was hot and fresh (always ask for fresh off the griddle french toast, a 4 minute wait but worth it). We ate at the Dive in way to many times. Could not get enough of it!

I was worried about the Veendam based on everyones neg reviews, but not a problem. I do agree that the Captain makes a world of difference. Captain Eric Van der wal was amazing and it did flow down to the crew. we saw him all over that ship.

I did post some Veendam pics in my VOV blog kingleVOV.wordpress.com

kinglevov.wordpress.com That is the name of the blog. Hope you enjoy.

I guess fish market was to broad of term. It was a small building towards to cultural center. The front door was lock. The back door was open where the locals were. We did not drop any supplies to the village. We asked the Captain about it at the Q&A and he said it was not requested. We did go past the village twice. Only saw a few seals, expected many more.

We did go into Nanortalik. We even had an iceberg break in half near the ship. We had to re-position due to ice. We tendered into town and wandered about. The fish market was closed to us. They were butchering in the back and we very upset if we came by. Turns out they were butchering a whale. That is their way of life. They did not anyone to see it and take pictures. They took it away in black trash bags. Other than that we wandered all over.

One of the neatest things we saw in PCS was an iceberg roll over right in front of us. That was cool. We also had a whale appear at our meet and greet. The Captain was with us talking to someone behind me, the whale appeared in front of the ship and whomever was driving the ship made a sharp turn. The ship listed and the Captain took notice. It was amazing to see this whale appear in front of us and the ship turn on a dime.

Just off the 35 day VOV on the Veendam. It was amazing.

Captain: Eric Van del wal He was amazing. His 12:50pm sea day reports from the bridge were great. We always made sure we were somewhere to hear it. The Lido was not a good place, to many people talking. He kept us informed of all that was going on. He did a couple of question and answer sessions with the Cruise Director. Very interesting man and very approachable.

Weather: Could not of asked for anything better. We only had only a couple of days when the ship rocked a bit. We did miss the port of Cartwright in Labrador but that was due to ice.

Port: Loved them all. From Wthe small villages to the large cities. We did two private tours and one HAL tour. The HAL tours were pretty pricey this time but some internet research will fond you some good private tours.

Best day goes to Prince Christian Sund. We spent about 10 hours in there. The weather was gorgeous. Sky blue and sunny, no clouds most of the day. We hit every nook and cranny it offered. The Captain would pull in front of the glaciers a do a 360 for all to see. It was strange that when we left the Sund and went back our into the Atlantic we had large icebergs and fog. What a way to end that day.

Some of our best memories are sailing out of ports wrapped up in the wool throws in a sweatshirt on the Promenade deck. We never had any problems finding the teak lounge chairs.

Food: MDR was great. First half of cruise had better selections and less repeated menus. Our dining steward was great about creating sometime good for us if we did not see it on the menu. Had a couple nights of cheeseburger and fries or a chef salad. Some days after a long tour, nothing sounds good but some mac and cheese comfort food and he would always come through for us. He even surprised us with chicken wings one night!

Lido was great for breakfast. Omelets were hot and fresh and when I wanted french toast or pancakes, I would just ask the grill person if they would put one on for me. So breakfast was always hot and fresh. The strombolis from the pizza place were really good.

Dive In was wonderful. I will miss my hamburgers and Nathans hot dogs and great french fries. They also make a wicked chicken sandwich. You can modify the sandwiches as much as you want.

Entertainment would be a low point for us. I would of liked more of the cast shows. They had great voices but in 35 days they only have 4 shows. They did do of them twice so we got 6. But some of the other entertainment was strange. But our silver lining was Barry from Boston in the Piano Bar. He was so much fun. His theme nights were great and he has quite a variety. I do not normally go to the piano bar. We also read lots of books from the library. They have good selections. I love to be lazy and read on a cruise.

Guest Lectures: I did not attend any of them but those who did said they were very good. They had some interesting topic but not my cup of tea.

Teas: Always go to the cupcake tea and it was good. Instead of the Dessert Extravaganza in the evening they did one for tea. I did go to that and everything was good. Lots of people went, glad it was supported.

Charity auction: hey did a fund raiser for a cancer center house in St Johns or St Anthonys. It was a silent auction on things people (guests and crew donated) and lots of knitted and crocheted items from the guests. The Culinary Host, Donna, had all the supplies for the ladies who wanted to knit or crochet. There were hats, scarfs, etc. Between the auction and donations, they raised over $5000.

Veendam: She was in great shape. This was a great itinerary for all the hot tubs on the aft deck. Not a big fan of her show room, the couches arr not comfy.

We did hear from the cast they are rolling out a new show concept. Encore is going away. They are heading back to 2 or 3 singers and lots of dancers. It has been rolled out on some ships.

Room Stewards: These guys were Ninjas who do not get enough praise. We were on the later cycle for room clean up which was fine for us. We also got fresh ice service at 4:30 daily. We had an ice bucket and then a bucket we kept water and soda in.

Our room 537 was an inside. We had 3 in a cabin. We had one day when it seemed warm and the office came and checked it. Within a few hours whatever it was, they fixed it. We were night to the inside crew area stairs. The first night I did notice the noise. It sounded like the took the horses up the stairs for nigh air and a little later the bowling team rolled their bowling balls down the stairs. After a day or two, I did not seem to notice it anymore. I live near an airport and no longer notice the planes. If you adverse to sound, do not book this room.

Tender process: They had a different system on this ship than I had seen before. Prior to open tendering, when tender tickets are required, all guests wanting to get off the ship had to go to the showroom on 7. If you were on a tour, you were given a sticker and waited to be called. If you were not on a HAL excursion you were given a tender ticket number and waited to be called. If you had priority tendering (4,5 or gold card suite) you were to come in and wait to be called. When you were called you went down to the tender via the crew stairs or elevators. No public elevators went to the tender area until open tendering began. This cut down the priority tender people going down and cutting in line with the tours and kept the tour together. As a 4 stair we never had a long wait. It may have been 5 to 10 minutes at the most.

As on any cruise, there were some complainers. It wouldn't be a cruise if they weren't there. I don't know of the noro on the ship but we did have the upper respiratory on it. My dad did get it but came prepared with antibiotics and did fine. He was never down and out and did not have it long. Lots of coughers and sneezers out and about who were not good mouth coverers. I did bring a travel size can of lysol and sprayed our air vent frequently as we would leave the room.

I was a little worried about the Veendam due to some negative reviews but we had no major air or bathroom problems. The air was on in dining room so a sweater was needed. Overall a fantastic cruise. The Captain and crew of the ship were wonderful. I truly hated to see it end. If you are worried about the Veendam and the VOV, don't be. Book it and have a great time, we did!

Yes the waterfalls are all over. Right as you walk out of the visitors center there is a beautiful one right there. The down was gorgeous to way through.