rxlowry

2 hours ago, ZoominGirl said:

Oh that doesn't sound good. I wonder if they change cruise directors when the NA moves to the Alaska cruises in the spring?

I feel like Alaska is usually port intensive with earlier arrivals in port as well.  I think it will be ok..maybe the sea day but even those typically are filled with nature viewing.  

Day 3 At Sea

Chris went to try watercolor but the room was full. People we spoke to said you need to go 45 minutes early if you want to participate. 
We did chat with people from Rotterdam at the airport and they said they had trivia twice daily every day and lots of activities. So this might be on the cruise director not Holland. My Holland experts, weigh in please. I will say our cruise director, Stephanie was not very visible.  She didn’t even come out at end of shows. I actually thought her announcements on the PA system were AI with how it was read. 

Day 2 Nassau

For all aboard at 1:30pm, I was sad to not see more activities planned.  No trivia at all. 
If you disregard all the gray things which are all promotions, it’s pretty empty.  I thought Oceania was the most low key but these day time things are pretty weak.  Coloring for adults twice a day?  I mean that’s something that could be out to grab anytime. 

Day 1 daily 

On 11/11/2024 at 8:03 AM, 510picker said:

My wife and I will be boarding next week, so thank you for the preview! Can you tell me what time early fixed dining is? Thank you!

 

I hate to hear the Rolling Stone Lounge is packed, but that venue is way too small to host good shows. I am in a wheelchair and it's almost impossible to find a seat.

Sorry for delay.  Early seating was 5pm this cruise.  I’m glad we chose anytime as this would be way to early with some of the late arriving ports 

We love trivia and I was disappointed none was offered in the morning, especially when we arrived in ports at 2pm! Chris and I did win once but 4pm is rough when we would meet others at 5pm for pre dinner drinks. We were the best dressed usually since we wanted dinner around 6. 
I loved the tulip prize!  Very creative and fun that each ship is a different color!! Way better than Carnival’s ship on stick or random junk from NCL. Or no prize like on Celebrity. 
JC was a great trivia and game host.  She is holding some from other ships in the fleet. 

I had a feeling I’d lose momentum on this live post with hosting 29 others so my apologies. So I’ll try to catch up!

In San Juan, we lead a walking tour for those who were interested. We walked to the Moro, Cathedral, stopped for pina coladas with some local food, and a stop for coffee and pastries 

On 11/15/2024 at 6:24 PM, TBfrPH said:

Hello, @rxlowry.  Please consider posting a Daily Program from a sea day.  We sailed N. Ams. pre-pandemic and enjoyed it.  We recall dancing to the house band in Ocean Bar during afternoon tea.  We avoided HAL since due to reports that live music has been much curtailed outside of the Music Walk venues in the evening, which are apparently packed due to the limited options. One of your earlier posts appear to mention that live music and dancing may have returned to Ocean Bar.

I’ll do that with one’s I have pictures of. The jazz trio only had ballroom hour twice. It’s was at 5pm. It definitely was not their forte and sometimes hard even that hour for them to play tempo or stay in same tempo. The other nightly sessions though they did play some danceable songs. 
Here is our grand Turk day

Spoke to a member of the group who ate in Morimoto last night. He said it was fantastic.  The only hiccup was the server said there was no tuna as did maitre’d. When he walked out, he went to the sushi bar and saw a pile of tuna. 

We loved Tamarind!  Ordered the sashimi for the table which was good but cut pretty thick. Starters were amazing.  My husband loved his upcharge lobster. I enjoyed my steak and sorbet trio for dessert 

19 hours ago, ZoominGirl said:

Thank you so much for these posts! So helpful as I am a newbie to cruising and will be on the NA in June for a Southbound Alaska cruise. Was hoping to hear about some of the specialty restaurants( especially Morimoto and Tamarind!) and the afternoon tea if that is still served. We booked a signature suite on the Upper Veranda deck and hope it will be worth it.

Afternoon tea has been served.  Tamarind was amazing. I’ll post pics

I wish trivia was earlier than four today!  I mean we arrive at two.  It seems like they jam too much into late afternoon/evening 

A note about the lasagna, I feel it would be a contender in a blind taste test vs MSC and Crystal which I feel had fantastic ones. 

Managing 29 others is making this a busy cruise for sure! I might be able to finally post some days from the blog as I’m doing my best to at least write so I don’t forget. This hasn’t been my best live post though but I’m going to keep trying!

Yesterday was the first sea day. We had a space to host a dance lesson for anyone who wanted to attend from our group. Holland did an excellent job in coordinating large specialty dining meals and this space pre cruise. We danced for an hour at 10am and had a fun time. 
I will say the amount of sea day activities is pretty light. I think some are at very odd times. Adult coloring and origami is about it in the morning.  Chris tried to attend watercolor but it was full. We did attend trivia at four (wished that was earlier) and scored 12/16 for second place.  Trivia today is once again at four and we arrive in port at two! Why not give us something to do until 2? I think daytime activities might be even less than Oceania or any of the luxury lines. 
Upside though is the evening are full of activities and food has been great! Anytime dining still no problems.  We arrived at six and our party of 8 were seated straight away.  The seafood deviled eggs might be the best deviled egg I’ve ever had.  The chocolate dessert recommendation from the server was phenomenal as well. 
We enjoyed the show in the theater this evening as well as the dancing through the decade game  which was tons of fun.  It was followed by the last set at Ocen Bar then a little bit of the DJ at Rolling Stone. 

Gala night dinner started with pre dinner drinks in gorgeous Tamarind bar. We sat up the the elevated seating but it really got toasty. I feel this ship runs on the warm side. 
We had fantastic dinner.  Anytime dining still working great as our table for ten was sat immediately at six!

I had prosciutto appetizer and it might be the best prosciutto I have ever tasted! Escargot were excellent too!  Chris loved the steak and shrimp and I really liked my cauliflower steak.  The strawberry Romanoff was the perfect finish to a meal.  Everyone really enjoyed dinner!

We finished the evening with a night of dancing in Ocean Bar!

Yesterday was Nassau.  My 12th time here and third this year so we stayed on board.  Enjoyed the pool and tried a burger from Dive In.  Took 17 minutes to get a burger so definitely made to order.  It was very nice but I think Guy’s wins this category although my husband liked this better.  Not a fan of the fries…I dislike coated French fries!!

Tried the sailaway “special” painkiller. Not sure how special priced at $11.50 so upcharge for those with have it all. Now I love the painkiller at Soggy Dollar…this was almost all orange juice. Not a fan and not worth the price!

Just now, 510picker said:

My wife and I will be boarding next week, so thank you for the preview! Can you tell me what time early fixed dining is? Thank you!

 

I hate to hear the Rolling Stone Lounge is packed, but that venue is way too small to host good shows. I am in a wheelchair and it's almost impossible to find a seat.

Just now, 510picker said:

My wife and I will be boarding next week, so thank you for the preview! Can you tell me what time early fixed dining is? Thank you!

 

I hate to hear the Rolling Stone Lounge is packed, but that venue is way too small to host good shows. I am in a wheelchair and it's almost impossible to find a seat.

I’ll check the time today!

Embarking was a breeze!  Arrived a little after 11 and no lines.  On board by noon. 
Lunch in buffet crowded as typical first day on any cruise but food very good. I like that it is mostly served to you. 
Took a couple new cruisers on ship tour. Didn’t finish as we were sidetracked by a cocktail. The ladies shared a Pirate Punch. what a presentation! Met up with more people in the group so that slowed us down as well
Very easy muster. 
Attended sail away party.  Very well attended of people who observe. Saw a couple from our group dancing with cruise staff so we ran over to join.  We were a small amount dancing but powerful enough to summon a rain shower! Party over. 
Back to our cabin so we could deliver welcome bags to everyone. 
Met up with some in Pinnacle bar for pre dinner drinks.  Service seemed a tad slow. 
Had a party of six for anytime dining and seated right away. Dinner was very good! I tried the Morimoto lobster.  Fantastic. 
After dinner, some attended show but we decided to see casino then save seats at Rolling Stone after seeing how packed Billboard was. I did see a pet peeve from

NCL of folding chairs.  Too small a venue or not enough going on… Good call skipping show as rolling stone was packed too.  Band great and dance floor packed.  
Went to Ocean Bar and heard then end of last set there. Closed out that bar and took a little lap around deck 2 to see what was still going on. 
A busy but great first day 

3 minutes ago, McDeb2119 said:

Where is the beach restaurant pictured?  Will be there in 2 weeks staying at the AC next to the Westin.  Thx. 

It's Lona at the Westin. the food is excellent!

18 hours ago, Huskerchick said:

Congratulations on your milestone that's fantastic. Have a great cruise. 

I was looking at my one journal on the plane and realized I missed a cruise!  My 2019 Crystal Thanksgiving cruise!  So this is 51 and I celebrated 365 nights sleeping on a cruise ship my last cruise to Greenland earlier into the two week voyage than I thought!  It was tough making the list that started back in 1983 but I think I’ve got it correct now!!

I am leading a group of 30 on this cruise and it’s my first time doing this. I will say Holland has been very easy to work with so far. I have lots of first time cruisers with me so this should be fun. 

Four others from our group were on our flight from Philadelphia. We woke up and learned the flight would be leaving an hour late due to maintenance. My husband has lounge access and we managed to bring in the two ladies we drove to the airport. They really enjoyed that start to the trip. The flight left at the new time with no delays. 
Everyone on this flight was staying at different hotels so we helped figure out the best options while waiting at baggage claim. 
My husband I and stayed at the Westin and our room was ready and our room was ready. Our room had an Peloton which wasn’t here the last time we stayed. After switching out of jeans, we went for some drinks and snacks at Loma. We followed that by a walk and a nap in the room since I woke up at 3:30am. 
Our dinner plans were for Kelly’s New England Seafood which is a place we loved our last visit. We invited all of the group to join us there and 12 others decided to attend. The fried whole belly clams are out of this world and our reason for going! Everyone enjoyed the lobsters, scallops, fish and even chicken. We picked up the tab as a thank you to the group. After saying our goodbyes, we hopped in our Uber and headed back to the hotel to get rest before boarding the ship tomorrow!

Greetings!  I’m a new cruiser for Holland America but I am hitting a milestone as this is cruise number 50! I hope to update here with thoughts and pictures. I always enjoy live reports so I try my best to pay it forward. I’ll do my best to answer questions and details I miss I will add to a more detailed blog. Feel free to add anything to the post if you are on this sailing.

I will post more when we get to Fort Lauderdale!

On 9/25/2024 at 10:46 AM, NYcruzzer said:

NCL's specialty dining has gone downhill as well. NCL's cutbacks are on full display both in food and entertainment. 

For the two base products (not counting the Haven..which is my least fave ship in a ship) Carnival beats NCL hands down in most categories to me!  

Digital disembarkation was so easy! Our group called at 8:35 and in the car by 8:55. 
The blog is all caught up and I’m adjusting to being off the ship! 
I truly enjoyed this vacation. Carnival gets a bad wrap at times but they do some things very well. And not all cruises are the same..the atmosphere on this Journey cruise is different than a three day cruise which some people do not realize. I’m not a firm believer in “once a balcony always a balcony” and I apply that to cruise lines as well…I love trying different ones.  Luxury, premium, ship in a ship, and plain old contemporary cruising…I bounce between all.  I just need to have to correct expectations. 
My 50th cruise is my next trip and I’m trying Carnival’s “cousin”…Holland America in November for the very first time. Join me on that board or the blog for my next adventure.  
Thanks for following along and being a great board on Cruise Critic!
 

Towel animals are getting so realistic.

Just kidding!  From museum in St Anthony’s but here’s some of the real ones