VMax1700

SWTSMBO? (She Who Thinks She Must Be Obeyed) 😀

That is what I thought, but wanted a bit of confirmation before posting. There is now a $15 upcharge for the Whole Dover Sole. There is also a charge of $15 for an additional entree. It is also mentioned on the new Caneletto Menu that "One pasta or entree per guest is included . A charge of $10 will be added per additional entree ordered". What happened to "sharing". 🤣

For the first time in years I watched the Japanes F1 race "Live". It was on the TV at 7.00 am ship time. Alot better than the usual 5am at home time. Also watched the Ireland v South Africa World Cup Rugby last night. Reception was excellent (so was the result! 😉)

There is a full size umbrella in each room according to our room steward. On NSDM last month we did not have one supplied. Also there are two of the blue and orange lap rugs, which I do not remember on NSDM either.

Day 2 Daily Program Sunday 24th September

Day 1 Daily Program - Saturday 23rd September

Good morning from Rotterdam day 2 Sunday 24th September. First a quick question to those who have good memories still! Has the Whole Dover Sole in Rudi's Sel de Mer always had an upcharge?

I was going to post Ryvita, but wasn't sure how that would translate so I just went crackers. 😁

I will post the Daily Programs tomorrow as I must get to bed as it is almost midnight and my glass slippers are killing me. Don't want the Rotterdam to turn into the Pumpkindam. 😁 So, goodnight from all us lucky souls on the beautiful Rotterdam.👋

The Lido also had crackers (of sorts) for the cheese. @kazu

Dutch Mussels in the Lido tonight.

Good grief I nearly forgot........... Today's bread puddings Chocolate Chip or Raisin. I went for the raisin as I was told it counts as one of my recommended five a day fruit and veg 😉

The sailaway from Amsterdam is really nice. Cruising down towards the locks took two hours and then we were into the open sea, where we are rocking oh so gently tonight. It was after 8pm before the pilot disembarked, so that was 3 hours he was on. Probably not too cheap an operation. As you can see, dusk was falling.

Embarkation was very quick and painless. We had been given a check in time of 2.30pm but we turned up at 12.30 and used the priority channel. First thing was that those who had put the luggage tags on their baggage were sent directly to the guys stacking the baggage whereas those who had not attached luggage labels were put to one side until they were properly labelled. There were no health questionnaires. We stood in front of the facial recognition/camera and punched two buttons and we were through! Lots of signs saying that single use bottles are not permitted on board and anyone holding a bottle was directed to one of the numerous bins to dispose of the bad boy. I had an empty 500ml plastic bottle and a full 1.5litre bottle of water in my back pack. I still have them. They went through the scanner and no one raised an eyebrow. Next step was on to the ship, where upon our boarding passes suddenly disappeared from the App and instead showed an error message. I just could not recover them. The S.O. asked if I had a paper boarding pass. "No" said I. "It's your App, so its your problem". A quick look at our passports and a check that our lovely likeness was the same as on his screen and we were onboard. It was several hours before the boarding pass reappeared on the app!

We stayed at Grand Hotel Amrath which is located near Centraal Station and across the river from the Doubletree and Sea Palace restaurant. It is a protected building (previously a shipping company) and an example of the Amsterdam School of Architecture. It was ok, but once and done. Interesting to see the ceilings and panels. Some views from our room:

We flew into Amsterdam on Thursday evening with KLM, flight time from Cork was 95 minutes. We took a taxi from the taxi rank into our hotel which cost €83. Pricey, but I checked pre booking a taxi and it was about €60 and we would then have had the hassle of getting up one floor to departures and then finding our driver amongst the melee of departing pax, so I am reasonable ok with the price. For those interested Amsterdam Schiphol was busy but efficient. We made a quick pit stop for the bathroom on the way to Passport control and by the time we reached the baggage carousel our baggage was circulating.

Just boarded today! Best yet. Having Navigator App with securtiy photos uploaded may have helped, but no queueing at any stage (except when my boarding pass in the App decided to go walk about and showed an error).

Currently on Rotterdam and there is a new booklet in the stateroom titled 'The Basics'. It has a lot of information including about announcements (no announcements before 8am even if the ship arrives early) and non emergency announcements will not be broadcast into stateroom - use bow camera channel)

Today's menus. Note the 'Featured Morimoto' dishes on MDR Dinner menu! lido_lunch_day_1 .pdf lido_dinner_day_1 .pdf mdr_dinner_day_1.pdf

I will be posting the daily program which will show the entertainment. Is there a particular entertainer/venue you are enquiring about?

We received the dreaded 'Itinerary Change' email yesterday, but it only related to departure time from Stockholm. It has been brought forward to 3pm so that we can do the scenic cruising of the archipelago in daylight! Should be nice!

Itinerary

Everything comes to and end and the European cruising season is certainly ending soon! Today we embarked Rotterdam in Amsterdam for her last European cruise of the season before she heads back across the pond to Florida. I know that there are many onboard this cruise who are staying on for the next cruise to go home at sea level and not at 38 thousand feet, but unfortunately we are not soo lucky. Maybe next year! I will update as often as I can and as long as internet is reliable. Currently using data through my phone's hot spot.

Oh wow, Eli played keyboards with BB Kings band on (I think) Koningsdam, pre Covid. Very pleasant guy.