cruiseaholic78

Just returned from the N.S. and we always had a nightly turn down service, towel animals and HAL chocolates only on “dressy nights” Would definitely have preferred a stroop wafel but presume it would be a mini one. We just put the tidy my room card on when we went to dinner. Have a great cruise, we did.

We just returned from a two week Nieuw Statendam cruise with C.O. The ship was completely sold out and very crowded. We absolutely loved ordering our tea and freshly squeezed orange juice every morning from room service. We were also so pleased with the C.O. dining room the service was excellent and it was very quiet compared to the MDR. We have said if we ever do a Pinnacle ship again we will definitely go the C.O. route

Welcome to Rotterdam safe travels.

I wish all of you a safe flight/return trip home and hope the lucky ones staying on have a great cruise. We enjoyed meeting some of you and who knows maybe we will meet again on another cruise. Feeling unashamedly totally smug that we only have a thirty minute drive home as we usually have long flights and jet lag pre cruise. Rosalyn

They will be honoring remembrance day at 20:00 at the Lido deck.

For those in Rotterdam on 4th May, this is remembrance day in The Netherlands where 2 minutes silence is held from 20:00.I wonder if they will do this on the ship? 5th May is the celebration of liberation day.

Sorry afraid not but as vegetarian food was also mentioned that is why I posted our C.O. menu. I would like to add that they are very good in the C.O.at adapting your choices and will always get me a crisp if it is shown on the MDR menu but not on the C.O. menu.

Is this better.

I am sorry but it is for me so not sure what to do about this. I just clicked and its now yellow. Can you see it.?

This is an example of our (dressy) menu tonight in C.O., there are vegetarian offers however they are not Indian.

It was all in the attachment and to be honest who wants to do a cruise less than 13 days!😁

If it is a Pinnacle ship I would advise asking if Club Orange is available, you pay $15 per day and get to chose your own cabin in the veranda class. If it is not a Pinnacle ship the price difference is not usually worth it (for me) and I would do as others suggest and pay for a cabin of your choice. I always like to choose my own cabin and location. https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/activity-types/dining/club-orange/Club_Orange_Benefits.pdf

What he meant was a “hard boiled egg” I thought it was funny but might be my twisted sense of humour.

Two thoughts for today if I may. Yesterday we sat in our bus waiting for our tour to begin when a discussion ensued between a couple with a “service dog” in a stroller and our driver. This took thirty minutes and we are not sure what exactly happened but in the end they got off our bus and got on a different one. Possibly with a dog lover! Heard at breakfast today ”Sir how would you like your eggs? I would like them hard! Sometimes it might be useful to learn a few English words before boarding 😀

If your hotel is near the cruise terminal you could leave your luggage there and walk to the very end where Hotel New York is situated, you can then spend some time watching the world go by. The reason for the timing slots is probably due to the total **** *** at the last boarding on 21 st April, the lines for dropping off luggage were ginormous and many were complaining.Everyone had a 12:00 boarding time so it looks like they are trying this time round to do it better.

When getting your Vietnam visa make sure you use the official site and not one that you pay to do it for you. https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/trang-chu-ttdt

We are able to stream Netflix, we have the premium padkage.

Just returned from the show “All That” on the Nieuw Statendam, we really enjoyed it and hope HAL continues with this type of show in future.

We were the lucky ones, I left Piet in the ginormous queue and headed to the start of the line, first time ever we have C.O. with priority boarding. The guys there were no good just said you can get a Porter and they will help you getting onboard. I asked what was the point of priority boarding then?? Luckily a lady came along asking people in the line who had priority boarding so went and got Piet and luggage and followed the leader. A discussion ensued between the Porters, the lady and a few passengers who thought I was pushing in. She told us to put our cases on their trolley anyway, walk all the way back past the line and enter the terminal. We did so and then! we had the boarding passes on our phones but also a printed one yeah guess what they needed the printed ones. Well boarded and in the cabin just after 12:00 we were ready to get this cruise rolling.

Definitely low key!

The problems with security have really been solved. Here is some helpful information about Schiphol. https://www.schiphol.nl/en/at-schiphol/services/?_gl=1*wldtlh*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTYxMTUxNjIwNi4xNzEzNTkzNzA2*_ga_SY55X9B9Q6*MTcxMzU5MzcwNi4xLjEuMTcxMzU5MzcxNi4wLjAuNjI5MjI4Mzk3

I am afraid the weather looks pretty ghastly for today and tomorrow looking forward to catching up on board. Rosalyn

You can pay in all public transport with your CC, just tap on and off, you do need one per person though. https://www.ns.nl/en/privacy/travelling-with-your-debit-card-or-credit-card.html#:~:text=Debit Cards or Credit Cards,limit on your Credit Card.

If you decide to go it alone you might like to prebook tickets. https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/visit/

Ships name there are 31 cruises to choose from Found it. Happy planning