jakkojakko
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Posts posted by jakkojakko
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15 minutes ago, GCHAN said:
Thanks for the review. It sounds like you had a good time.
Just wondering what activities they had during the day. We quite often do the trivia and I am wondering whether they still have these on Rotterdam. Also do they have any sports competitions like table tennis, golf etc.
Yes, trivia is very much alive and daily.
There is a tennis court as well as table tennis, but I never observed any organised activity. It was a very port intensitive itinerary.
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For anyone interested in the investigation of the midair collision in Ketchikan, here is the preliminary report:
The DHC-3 pilot stated the flight from the Misty Fjords area had proceeded normally, and he had descended and was maneuvering the airplane to show passengers a waterfall near Mahoney Lake when the collision occurred. He had not observed any potential conflicting traffic on his flight display that included Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADSB) system data. He last recalled looking at his ADS-B display when he was flying over Carroll Inlet. Just prior to the collision, he saw a flash from his left side, and experienced a large, loud impact. According to the pilot, the DHC-3 airplane then rolled right and pitched about 40 degrees nose down toward the water in George Inlet. He stated that he was able to maintain some control and flare the airplane prior to impact. The pilot estimated that the airplane impacted the water about five seconds after the collision. The pilot, some passengers, and some bystanders helped the passengers of the DHC-3 evacuate the airplane and move to the shore.
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2 hours ago, josumello said:
We r considering a 32 day Hawaii/So Pacific Rotterdam Cruise. First time on HAL but have been on many other cruise lines.
A couple of questions:
Is there a self service laundry? Don't know, don't use it.
Is there a piano bar? Yes.
Are gratuities billed daily or paid individually at end of cruise? Daily and charged at the end of the cruise on your account
Does dinning have traditional and anytime dinning offered? Both.
And last but not least, does the ship pretty much close down early? Like 10ish?
Yes and no, depends on cruise and itinerary. However do not expect a party crowd.
TIA
Answers in cursief.
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39 minutes ago, drowelf said:
Only time will tell. When we did this in February 2015, the cruise before us had 40 foot seas on the passage between Antarctica and Cape Horn. We had maybe 8 foot seas, going from Cape Horn to Antarctica, at the max. So there is really no way to predict what you will get for that 24 hours or so for that part of the cruise.
Same,
Jan 2008 30 to 40 feet waves from the Falklands to Antarctica across the drake. 4 days later calm sea back to Ushuaia.
The ship , Rotterdam, took it wel, but the corridors were mighty quiet. Luckely the movement didn't bother us, and it was quite spectacular riding up and down the waves.
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West to east definitely. In that case you have a nice build up to the finale, antarctica.
East to west antarctica comes fairly quickly and although the west coast of south america is gorgeous, it pales compared to the antarctic highlight.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/alaska-plane-crash-1.5142963
Another floatplane crash from the same company. Not a good week.
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36 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:
Thank you for your review. I have had my eye on that particular cruise and hope to do it within a couple of years. BTW, can I assume that the Rotterdam still has its library and the Crows Nest?
Library yes, librarien no. Crows nest is still going strong and full during happy hour and sailaway.
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2 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:
Is this TCAS system something that can be installed and used effectively on a single plane, or do all planes in the vicinity have to be equipped?
It only works between aircraft that have the system.
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The ship.
It had been two years since we sailed ms Rotterdam and the ship's inside public places were extensively done over in a very nice way. New carpets, new upholstery and a general new feel when walking around deck 4 and 5. Inside our verandah cabin the couch was new, not leathery this time, and the cabin was clean with no defects. Airconditioning worked fine the whole two weeks. The washroom however was not updated. Everything worked, hot/cold water, flush, but the general condition of the bath, although clean, was bad. Apparently the area around the bath faucets was and had been leaking with a lot of rust as a result. This was painted over, but rust was already apparent again. This fortunately did not lesson the enjoyment of the cruise, but is something HAL should attend to as they will keep ships like Rotterdam for another ten years as told by the hotel director on the ship.
Dining.
Admittedly a subjective subject, we think the choice and quality of the meals in the mdr has improved greatly. I liked every course I selected, which has not always been the case, and it was never a problem to order seconds. There is no charge for a second main course. The lido was used for breakfast and lunch. Quality is good with lots of choices, italian corner, far lands (asian) corner, sushi corner, salad bar, fixed sandwiches etc. On the aft deck you can order made to order pizza, we did that once and it was good and in the covered pool was a snackbar with hamburgers and fries, also good. I sometime read about bad attendance by lido waiters but that is not the case here. Tables were cleaned in record time and they came around for water/koffie etc very often. It seemed like a full house and that reflected in a very busy lido, so to have a table of choice you would have to come early. We did not do pinnacle or canalletto.
Crew.
They were fabulous as ever. From cabin stewards, dining stewards, in fact everybody you met, it was all smiles and helpfullness.
Itinerary.
Due to strong winds the harbour of Warnemunde closed and it was not safe anyway to dock there. This was to be the start of Berlin tours and was a great dissapointment for passengers who had embarked on the previous cuise and had stayed on for this one, they had already missed two ports and this would be the third. So another seaday, but the captain announced already at noon that the next day's scheduled sea day would be replaced with an impromptu port stop at Riga and that turned out to be a great one! Rotterdam had never been there before, in fact only Prinsendam had. Every other, scheduled, stop was in general early to arrive and on time to leave.
Overall.
It was a great cruise, despite the unusual cold weather for the baltic.
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It is flat screen, but still low quality and no interactive stuff.
Picture is from two weeks ago.
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If you have a backpack or such with a laptop compartment you can use that. It works great.
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He called it the smaller ships so the S class might be included.
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During the mariners lunch on Rotterdam hotelmanager van Belleghem, captain was on the bridge due fog, announced the new ship Rijndam and that the company has decided to keep ships of Rotterdam sizes for another 10 years. He is pleased wi😀😀😀th that decision and so am I.
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On 4/25/2019 at 10:46 AM, Brockleyjack said:
Hi, we’re taking this cruise in a couple of months time. I was wondering whether to take my walking poles.
Which ship? Ours provided lots off walking poles by the shore landing sites, included.
Look at the first picture on post nr 7. You see a bulk of stuff on the landing site. That's where the poles are.
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Some images from this afternoon.
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3 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:
Pictures are great.
What did you do in this port? Did you take a tour?
Took a round in the hop on hop off in very bad weather, thus stayed on board for the whole round. Lunch on the ship and when the sun came out walked back to the old town and strolled around until all aboard.
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2 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:
Nice sharp pics, thanks! That's HMS Westminster (F237), a Type 23 frigate based out of Portsmouth, Hampshire, the home of the Royal Navy
Yep. They had an official visit of sorts. Lots of diplomatic limousines parked in front. Also nice to see the resupply of food via a man/woman line all the way into the ship. Manual labour that, no machines.
Original photo is even lerger/sharper!
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4 hours ago, Lunar Dragon said:
We stopped in Riga last year with the Prinsendam. Wonderful port, thoroughly enjoyed the city!
Aah, then we were misinformed by the ships briefing! Thanks
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By the way when leaving the sun made an appearance, but it remained cold and windy.
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Well, almost. Prinsendam was here once in the ninteen nineties something.
Because of cancelled Warnemunde ms Rotterdam sailed for the first time ever up the river to Riga. Helped by two tugs she reversed in the relatively small river and docked behind a britisch warship, almost in front of the old town! The excursion desk had managed to find some tours and the local hop on hop of busses were waiting. There was only a slightly minor setback. The wind was still blowing strong with a temperature just above freezing and sometimes snowgrains fell. A few off our fellow passengers had not accounted for the weather and had to rush back to the ship.
All in all an excellent substitution arranged in record time. I say, HAL use this port more often!
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Well, we were not going to Berlin anyway, so yes, an improvement for us. As long as Saint Petersburg stands, we will be fine😀.
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As forecasted, the winds this morning were very strong. The waves in the harbour were around two and a half meters or roughly 8 feet and the harbourmaster closed the inner port. As the wind was forecasted to increase it was not safe to dock anywhere else and the captain took the safe decision to cancel Warnemunde.
Warnemunde is used for excursions to Berlin, so a lot of people will be disappointed. They are now looking to replace tomorrows scheduled seaday into a port stop in Riga. As I'm writing this they confirmed Riga as a substitute, so it is a good and fast followup!
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No problems on windows or android here.
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28 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:
None of your opinions matter in the context of a closed loop cruise from the U.S. for U.S. citizens who are following the rules allowed by the government.
There are plenty of reasons why I said what I said. You don't know anyone's life circumstances just because you see them on a cruise ship. People's rationales can also change based on the particular trip at hand.
It is not that my opinion matters, it does'nt, and I get the closed loop rules. What I don't understand is the the using of an exceptional clause and subsequent possible troubles enroute, when there is a solution that tops everything: the passport.
And I stand by my saying, if you can afford a cruise, you can afford a passport.
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Review Ms Rotterdam, jewels of the baltic april/may 2019.
in Holland America Line
Posted · Edited by jakkojakko
Addition
There is no ships dancers and singers anymore, just individual performers interspersed with the occasional movie. We did have three singers who did a good job and performed three times, but I am not sure if they were on the ship for a longer time.
We cruise for destinations and quiet cruise life and not bars and or late night life. When walking around at 11 pm it was never very crowded or busy so if you are looking for a party atmosphere, you won't find it I think.