POA1

It is windy, rainy and generally fugly in Fort Lauderdale. It looks like it will be this way through Thursday night. All our phones rang with alerts from the city yesterday to tell us that 6-8 inches of rain are expected. Pretty much the entire area is made up of those low lying areas they warn you about in these situations. Looks lovely for the weekend, but not for the Oosterdam.

Exactly!

Bring back the Dutch hats! 😁

Thanks for the Daily Programs! Very helpful for planning.

I second, or fourth or whatever, the aft VS. I'd avoid the VQ unless you want to be high up near the spa with a smaller balcony.

If you post your phone and operating system, someone can probably help. For example, Pixel 7 Pro running Android 14 or whatever you've got.

A number of the 14 day Vancouver round trips are connecting the land tours. They likely have less round-trip availability. If you have a true 14 day sailing, called Great Alaska Explorer, if I recall, then that's a standalone sailing and not 2 x 7 days.

Depends on the phone model. On stock Android you drag-swipe up and click on screenshot like in the attached image below. Alternatively - and this almost always works - depress the power & the volume down buttons simultaneously. (That's how I got the attached screenshot.) This is from a Pixel 7 Pro running Android 14, which I installed Thursday night.

Sorry to hear about your tech woes. While I can troubleshoot most anything, we still carry post-its for this very reason.

Try clearing the app cache and stored data. You will have to log in again, the the app should rebuild its database.

Great tip! Also grab waters before port days when you will need them to "fill your fifteen."

Have a great trip @rafinmd

The classic dishes were also on the Nieuw Statendam's menus prior to drydock. We'll start seeing them again on the 26th when she starts her transatlantic.

Be very careful. You'll be in penalty and at risk of auto cancellation if you try to stretch out final payment for a week plus.

That's the "boat" we will be in. Ours is the first Caribbean sailing after the NS returns from Europe. We are looking for a general idea of what we'll see on embarkation day, formal / gala /dressy / how about long pants? days. I wanted to point out how you could see your upcoming menus in the (world-class, highly respected 🤔) Navigator app prior to sailing. Roger probably knows more about menu rotations than anyone I've ever met. However, he can't be everywhere, so the "preview" menus in the (5 ⭐, 2 👍 up) Navigator app is a big help. 🌟,

This may be a well known tip, but in case you didn't know.... If you have an upcoming cruise, the Navigator app (belovef by all 😉) will show you the menus for the ship you are booked on - in the weeks leading up to your cruise. The MDR and Lido menus update daily in the app. You can follow along and see what's served each day. This can be helpful if you - for example - want to know when wiener schnitzel night is. There are menu cycles for sailings in each market. They vary by ship and itinerary. We were watching the Nieuw Statendam's menus in anticipation of our upcoming cruise in December. The NS is in Europe, so the menu cycles are different from what we'll see in the Caribbean. But, we are a planning people, so the more we know, the better. DW noticed that the menus stopped updating on the 8th for us. This makes sense because the NS went into drydock at Fincanteri in Italy the next day. That leaves us all sad and without updates for a couple of weeks. If you have an upcoming voyage, you may want to follow your ship's meals. @Huskerchick 8_nov_-_m14-day14-_mdr_south_europe_2023.pdf

Room service menu

Thank you for the perspectives on travel by rail. Taking the train to board a ship is pretty rare and there are very few people who write a "live from" on the subject🚆🚢.

Great reporting @terrydtx Thank you for the comparisons.

Look to see if you have a night with no availability in Tamarind. That's likely to be the Morimoto night. You probably won't be able to book it until you get on the ship.

Have a great trip!

As a Pennsylvania native, I truly did not realize how much William Penn influenced the culture and attitudes.

That list made perfect sense until I got to "make up mirror." Who the steals that? I'm hoping that "little clippy things on the bottom of pants hangers" makes the list before our next sailing.

If you are thinking of chilling your Champagne in an ice bucket, don't. (Unless it's a really big & tall bucket.) A chilled base and a warm bottle neck are a recipe for disaster.