Where In the World Are Tom and Jet

Yikes! Glad you got a better resolution. Don’t blame Jet one bit for not wanting that cabin! Hope she is feeling better.

February 18, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Today has been a day at sea as we make our way to Albany, Australia. It’s been partly cloudy and about 66 degrees.

I had a new experience last night. I had my first massage. My back has been bothering me for the last few days from pushing the wheelchair and I’d gotten to the point that small movements caused my back muscles to spasm which causes a good bit of pain. Jet suggested that I see the masseuse she’s used since we’ve been on the trip.

Since I’m pretty ticklish, I told Arlene, the masseuse, that she would do better pressing hard so it wouldn’t tickle me. Well, for a little lady who is probably barely 5 feet tall, that lady had hands of steel. When she was finished, my back felt much better but I also felt like Mike Tyson had hit me a couple of times in the back. Arlene told me my muscles would be sore since it was my first massage and she was right. However, my back has done much better today.

As you may recall, when we returned from our tour yesterday, we were told that we were going to have to change cabins and they gave us a cabin right across the hall from our original cabin. Well, this morning was moving day. Jet and I both woke early and decided to start moving. It took almost 2 hours to move everything and relocate our clothes and other items in their new homes. The closets in the new cabin aren’t quite the same as what we had so we had to rearrange where we’ve put things, thus resulting in a lot of extra door opening of the closets during the day as we try to remember where certain things are placed. Our new bathroom has a tub with shower, which is nice but it also makes the bathroom a little smaller. We’ll make it work though.

As I’ve mentioned before, most of the crew is from Indonesia and the Philippines. As we get closer to those two destinations, the excitement of the crew is really picking up because many of them will be able to visit with their families for the first time in several months. The Indonesian crew members are mainly from the islands of Bali and Java. We’ll be stopping in Bali for 2 days and some crew families are traveling from Java to visit them. I’m expecting the docks in Bali and the Philippines to be full of crew family members kind of like when a US Navy ship returns to port from a deployment. It should be interesting and fun to watch.

Well, we turn our clocks back another hour tonight which now makes us 10 hours behind the time at home. It’s going to be a real shock when we fly home from Hong Kong and have that huge time change happen in 1 day.

Until tomorrow.

Glad you are all settled in your new cabin.

Yes -- that 10 hour difference will be a shocker when you get home.

Enjoying your posts.

Keith

Thanks for your posts.

Hope the cabin works out OK. Will you return to the original cabin when the floor is repaired?

When we have been on cruises visiting Bali, if room stewards have family visiting, many passengers wrote notes and attach to their cabin door stating they do not want their room serviced, so that the crew do not have so many rooms to clean, therefore meet their relatives earlier.

Thanks for your posts.

Hope the cabin works out OK. Will you return to the original cabin when the floor is repaired?

 

When we have been on cruises visiting Bali, if room stewards have family visiting, many passengers wrote notes and attach to their cabin door stating they do not want their room serviced, so that the crew do not have so many rooms to clean, therefore meet their relatives earlier.

That is a great idea. I can always get my ice from the Neptune Lounge.

February 19, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Another day at sea today as we head to Albany, Australia. Cloudy and cool today with scattered showers.

Last night we were entertained by two young Australian ladies who had been finalists in the Australia’s Got Talent contest recently. They called themselves Divalicious and sang several songs that mirrored their quest to make it in show business. They were good but definitely not the best talent we’ve seen while aboard.

Tonight, we have a BBC documentary called “Frozen Planet Life” and the ship orchestra is going to play live music during the show. Sounds like it could be interesting.

This morning started out well but quickly went down hill. Jet was feeling really good when we woke up and was ready to try to do more walking today. Then, for some reason, we started getting a strong petroleum type smell in our cabin, and apparently in several other cabins in our area. With all the respiratory problems she’s had, Jet has become more sensitive to smells like this, which was especially strong. As a result, I had to get her out on deck where she could get some fresh air. Four hours later now, she’s just starting to feel like she’s breathing normally.

Needless to say, after our steward told us there were several cabins that were complaining about the smell, I found the head of housekeeping and really lit into him. This is the second or third time we’ve had this petroleum smell come inside the passenger area since we’ve been on board and, with all the passengers who have respiratory problems on board, just isn’t healthy.

As a result of my tirade, our cabin has been cleaned more thoroughly than ever, all of our drain and vent lines have been flushed and a floor drain in our bathroom, which was allowing a urine/sewer type smell to come in when we ran water, has now been covered with plastic to stop that. They then put an ozone machine in the cabin the “cleanse” the air. When we went back to the cabin a little while ago, everything smelled normal and it sure was clean. Not that it isn’t usually made spotless by our stewards Deden and Ipa who work extremely hard.

Jet goes to see the massage therapist in a while. Miss Hands of Steel, who worked me over the other night, is going to see her. My muscles are starting to recover from her efforts the other evening and my back is still feeling much better. I may go to the hot tubs later this afternoon.

That’s all for now.

Until tomorrow.

That isn't good about the smells in the cabin.

Hopefully it is all straightened out for the rest of the cruise.

February 20, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Today we stopped in Albany, Australia for the day.It was cool and breezy with mostly cloudy skies. Considering that this is mid summer in Australia, we have really been lucky with the temperatures we’ve experienced. We were told to expect 100+ degrees in some ports but I believe the hottest we’ve had has been around 88. I know that will change when we get to Indonesia and the Philippines.

Albany is a nice lilt town and the prices of things were very reasonable. One of the nicest places we visited while in town was The Church of St. John the Evangelist. It was built in 1848 and is a Presbyterian church with pretty stained glass windows and wooden pews. There were a couple of people there who were explaining the history of the church and demonstrating the system of musical pipes which they sometimes use to play various songs. They also have a large church bell which was made by the same company that manufactured Big Ben’s bell.

Tonight, we’re on our way to Freemantle, Australia which is our last stop in this country.

The crew is getting very excited as we get closer to Bali.Lots of family will be visiting the ship and it should be quite an exciting scene.

Well, just a short report tonight. Jet walked more today after her setback with the petroleum fumes yesterday. Our room stewards are doing everything possible to minimize scents in our cabin since Jet has become so sensitive to things like that.

Until tomorrow.

Glad to hear that you cabin stewards are doing everything they can to help Jet with scents.

Sounds like you had a lovely day :)

You are fortunate to have great cabin stewards taking care of you.

Glad your temperatures aren't too hot so that you can enjoy the beauty of Australia.

February 21, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Today was a combined sea day and port day. We didn’t arrive in Fremantle until 4 p.m. The day was sunny breezy and cool while we were at sea but warmed up some once we were at our dock.

The dock is conveniently located near town. Today, we walked across the nearby railroad tracks and then wandered around town. There are lots of old buildings here that are now being used as stores and restaurants. It seemed like everywhere we went we saw fellow passengers. Many were disappointed because almost all of the stores closed at 5 p.m. so they couldn’t do any shopping. There were lots of pubs and restaurants that were open. One place was called Meatballs and Cocktails which had a unique menu which really did consist of various types of meatballs. Another had a German theme and specialized in pigs knuckles (yummy).

When we returned to the ship, they had turned the Lido into an Outback type restaurant and were serving several Australian specialties such as lamb chops, kangaroo tenderloin which was very tasty, crocodile topping on pizza and Lamington desert cake. Everything was good and the staff was dressed in Australian cowboy type hats and shirts.

Many people seemed to have family here, including our friends Marilyn and Rodney, who are from nearby Perth, and they were able to bring them on board to look around the ship and eat if they wanted to.

Tomorrow, we’re probably going to take the nearby train to Perth and look around. Both Fremantle and Perth have what they call CAT buses which are free and go on routes which cover many of the city highlights. Fremantle has 2 routes and Perth has 4.

Jet did the most walking today that she’s done in weeks and really did well. She still got tired after a while but she was determined to start doing more walking.

Oh, by the way, our trivia team tied for first place today.

Until tomorrow.

So it sounds like since HAL can't have BBQ's out on the decks, they did a version of it in the Lido.

We love Australian lamb chops -- we get them at home and grill them outside.

Good that Jet is walking more and more each day.

Congratulations on your team tying at trivia.

February 22, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

After staying over night in Fremantle, we got off the ship early and took the train to Perth. The weather today was sunny and warm, about 84 degrees.

The train took about 30 minutes and when we got off at the Perth station, we were right in the middle of town at a very large pedestrian friendly shopping area. The main department store here is Myer and we also found that they have Target here as well.

I’ve really got to compliment Australia on how they handle their public transportation here and also their wheelchair accessibility. Every city we’ve been in has, or is building a light rail system which ties into the public bus system. The buses and trains are all handicapped accessible and there are usually lifts/elevators close by to go to a different level if needed.

The train tickets were very reasonable at $4.70 per person and were good for 2 hours and could be used on any of the public buses or even for the train if you wanted to return from your originating station. Perth and Fremantle also had what they call CAT buses which were free and could be used by anyone to move to certain areas of each city.

Perth is a very vibrant clean city with lots of construction of new buildings. They were building a new high rise apartment building by the riverfront and had 2 bedroom apartments for sale for $1.1 million. So, as in most other areas, housing isn’t cheap here.

After we left the shopping area of Perth, we went down to the Elizabeth Quay which was a very nice riverfront area with lots of stores and restaurants. They also had their ferry service located there. We walked around there and Jet found a nice Australian wide brim hat to buy.

They had a bell tower at Elizabeth Quay which was very modern and had bells from a church which had been so dilapidated that its steeple could no longer support the weight of the bells. The ship’s tour speaker mentioned that people come there to learn how to play bells. They bells started ringing at noon and were still ringing when we left the tower area around 1 p.m.

From there, we took the CAT bus and wound around different areas of the city and ended up back at the shopping mall near the train station. I found an Australian Bush Hat I’d been looking for in one of the stores and then we caught the train back to Fremantle.

We’re both exhausted from the day’s adventure.

Tonight we leave for Bali but have 3 sea days before we arrive there. Our entertainer this evening was Andy Bunger from Germany. He was excellent and did a very high energy show playing several different instruments. He told us that both of his parents were entertainers and that they always had many different types of instruments around the house and he could never decide which one he wanted to play so he learned them all.

We were speaking with our cruise director, Hamish, after the show and I told him that, since he was so high energy and played so many instruments, our entertainer was an ADHD entertainer.

To allow our Indonesian crew members to have more time with their families, the ship gave us a card to fill our for our room stewards tonight to tell them if, or when, we wanted them to service our room the two days we’re in port. We’ve told them that we don’t want any service the first day in Bali and service only the evening of the second day when we’ll have left there. I would estimate that our two room stewards clean at least 25 cabins. They usually start around 8 a.m. and don’t finish their morning service until around 1 p.m. Then they start all over again around 5:30 p.m.

Until tomorrow.

We would enjoy doing a day like you did -- nice and easy -- especially since there are lots of accessible.

We have had cabin stewards that do as many as 34 cabins including our big PS. We would do the same as you -- we are low maintance people.

Sounds like a wonderful day.

Enjoying your reports.

Keith

February 23, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Today was a sea day as we make our way to the island of Bali. It was about 72 with moderate waves but the wind was blowing into the stern of the ship so it wasn’t rough and is was very pleasant out on deck.

We basically did our normal routine today of trivia, arts and crafts and just taking it easy in preparation for our 2 days in Bali.

The crew is getting more excited and many of them were telling us about their plans to visit with friends and family when we reach Indonesia. Just watching them and their families might be better than any shore excursion we will take.

One of our Lido servers, William, is engaged to another crew member on board and his work contract ends when we reach Bali while his fiancee’s contract continues until September. After he leaves her in Bali, he will have a short break and then will go to another ship in the fleet until September and then both of them will go home where they will be married in November. I can’t imagine how tough this type of family separation is for the crew members.

I’ve arranged for a private driver to take us around for the two days we’re in port. His name is Putu, which means he’s the first born son to his parents, and he has an excellent reputation as a guide.

Tonight we had a ventriloquist for our main show. His name was Patrick Murray and his puppet was a Jamaican named Matilda. When I first heard what the show was going to be, the first thing that popped into my mind was how is a ventriloquist going to keep everyone entertained for 45 minutes. Well, he had me an others laughing so hard at times that I almost fell out of my chair once. He did a great show. It’s too bad he’s only on for one show night.

Tomorrow is the second of three sea days before Bali and I’m going to have my second massage with Arlene at the spa. My lower back has been bothering me some and I’m hoping she can work out the kinks in the muscles.

They gave us some paperwork today for our disembarkation in Hong Kong. It’s hard to believe that 7 weeks have gone by already and 2 weeks from tomorrow, we leave to go home.

Just a short report tonight.

Until tomorrow.

First off thank you for your day to day adventures, especially of the ports that we have been to. We can relive our experiences. Glad your DW is recovering. We had Patrick and Matilda on a recent cruise and he (they) were great. He did do a second show and at the end he came down off the stage we were able to meet and talk to him and "Matilda". We were able to tape it and have enjoyed it every time we watch it.

Can't wait to read all about your private tour for both days in Bali.

Wow -- hard to believe that your cruise will soon be ending. Have enjoyed your reports.

February 24, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

You can tell that we’re approaching the equator again. It’s definitely been warmer today, about 83 degrees.

Today has been another day at sea. We’ve been filling out paperwork for our disembarkation in about 2 weeks, doing laundry and putting some things together to thank the crew members who have been so helpful to us over the past several weeks.

I came close to becoming a millionaire this morning. I cashed $80 in US dollars for 950,000 rupiah in Indonesian currency. Too bad they don’t spend like dollars in value.

I had another massage today. It was great and I told Jet that I had enough oil on me that if she squeezed me too tightly that I might squirt out of her arms. Arlene, AKA Hands of Steel, gave me a work out. My back sure feels a lot better!

Tonight is another Gala night but we’re just going to Lido tonight instead of the main dining room. They’ll have the same foods at both places and it’s really been nice not to have to get dressed up, i.e. put longs pants and a dress shirt on with a sports coat, to go into the dining room when we choose not to. One thing that has been very nice for the entire trip is that most of the passengers have been dressing very casually and on “non Gala” nights I can just wear slacks and a polo shirt to the main dining room.

Tonight, we had a “classically trained/rock violinist” named Katei entertain us. He’s from Melbourne, Australia, and was apparently discovered by a ship’s talent agent while playing on the streets of the city during the day as a busker. He was excellent and played some classical music along with songs by Sting, Nirvana and Cold Play. Very high energy.

Jet asked Hamish, our cruise director how they found the talent for the shows. He said those decisions are made by staff in Seattle, where the company headquarters is located, who watch and listen to audition tapes sent in by entertainers or talent scouts the company has employed to find entertainment groups in different parts of the world.

It’s been really nice to see the cruise ship entertainment move from shows where music from the 40s was dominant to shows with modern songs. Sad to say, the WW II generation is almost gone and those of us now in our 60s and 70s grew up in the rock and roll era and, while we may like the songs from the 40s, enjoy hearing music from our generation.

You’ll remember that I’ve mentioned the family reunions coming up for our crew members in Bali and the Philippines. Tonight, one of the Lido managers told us that there will be about 900 family members on board for the days in Bali and 1000 in Manila. The main dining room will be closed to passengers during the day because the ship is providing lunch for all the family guests who will start coming on board around 9 a.m. on those port days.

Lots of things going on for tomorrow’s schedule so it should be a busy day.

Until tomorrow.

You’ll remember that I’ve mentioned the family reunions coming up for our crew members in Bali and the Philippines. Tonight, one of the Lido managers told us that there will be about 900 family members on board for the days in Bali and 1000 in Manila. The main dining room will be closed to passengers during the day because the ship is providing lunch for all the family guests who will start coming on board around 9 a.m. on those port days.

Wow....that is fantastic......what a nice reunion.....!!!

February 25, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Today is our last sea day before reaching Bali. It’s warm, about 83, with light winds and calm seas.

One of our favorite waiters in the Lido cafe is leaving the ship tomorrow. William has been a lot of help to us and is always saying a kind word or getting something for us. When he leaves the ship, he’s also leaving his fiancee behind and after a short break, he’ll travel to meet one of there other HAL ships in Europe for a few months. After a short contract there, he’ll meet his fiancee in Bali where they will be married in November. Their contracts with the cruise line after that will have them both working on the same ship for the same period of time so they wont have to be separated.

I went to a lecture given by our astronomy expert from Australia this morning. He’s an engaging speaker and has obviously had a very interesting career. An interesting fact he mentioned this morning is that, when we’re in Bali, because of the longitude and latitude we’ll be at, and the time of year, we’ll cast the smallest shadow possible from our body if we stand in the sun at 12:30 p.m. The sun will be straight above us at that time instead of at an angle, so our shadows will be very small as a result.

The German musician who plays several instruments did an encore show this afternoon. Just as his first show, this encore matinee was excellent and the crowd really appreciated that he was able to do another show.

At dinner, we were speaking with one of the dining room managers who told us that his daughter had just arrived in Bali, after a three hour flight from Jakarta, to meet him tomorrow. He told us that she arrived at the hotel he’d reserved for her and she found that, coincidentally, there were people there who were family members of 26 other crew members. I’m sure that group will be having a good time tonight while they wait for the ship to arrive in the morning.

The evening show featured a male and female gymnast/acrobatic duo who were excellent. At the end of their show, their male team member surprised Hamish, our cruise director, and coaxed him into doing a strength move with him. Hamish did great and the crowd erupted in cheers. We saw Hamish after the show and congratulated him on us not having to call the medical team for him.

When we returned to our cabin this evening, there was a special security letter from the captain. Apparently, after we leave Bali, we will pass through the Celebes and Sulu Seas on our way to the Philippines, through areas where local pirates have attempted to board some ships at random.

Although the likelihood is minimal that they’d try to board us, the ship is putting their security guards on 24 hour security watch and will also have charged water hoses available on both sides of our deck, which is where the promenade is located. They will also have 4 Long Range Acoustic Devices manned and ready. These devices emit very loud sounds which can induce a great deal of pain. They have also given us a special ship code and told us, if we hear that, we’re supposed to leave our cabins and go to an interior area of the ship. The sea routes in this area are also patrolled by warships from various countries. So, Mr. Pirate, if you think you’re coming aboard this ship, you may have some very uncomfortable and painful surprises waiting for you.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be 85 degrees but with 100% humidity. I’m melting just thinking about that. I sure hope our driver’s van has excellent AC.

Until tomorrow.

Just got caught up on your wonderful reports.

When HAL changed formal nights to gala nights several years ago we noticed that men wore just slacks and collared shirts on gala nights -- even at the specialty restaurants. Very few men dressed up.

February 26, 2018

Aboard MS Amsterdam

Today we docked in Benoa, Bali, Indonesia. It was hot and very humid and mostly sunny.

The day didn’t start out well. The driver I’d contacted months ago, after seeing good recommendations in Tripadvisor and Cruise Critic, didn’t show up. While I was looking for him and giving him some extra time to get to the port, which was crazy busy, a gentleman spoke with me about taking us out for a tour if our reserved driver didn’t show up.

Well, Putu didn’t show up so we engaged Bagia who, it turned out, was a very kind friendly excellent guide. We left the port around 10 a.m. and returned a little after 6 p.m. having seen many interesting areas of Bali.

How to describe Bali? It’s serene but hectic. It’s beautiful with many not so beautiful areas due to the fact that most of its population seems to be pretty poor and doing anything they can to make a living. I’ve never seen so many small businesses, crammed into every nook and cranny there was, in my life. The people were selling everything from vegetables to fruit to food to almost anything else you can imagine.

The people were very friendly but almost anything you wanted to do involved having to pay someone something. Going to the bathroom? 2000 Rupiah (15 cents) please. Want to pull off onto a scenic overlook to take some pictures? There’s a guy there collecting about 5000 Rupiah (40 cents). Want to see a temple? 50,000 Rupiah ($4) per person. I didn’t begrudge paying the fees at all. These folks need to make a living somehow and they’re doing everything they can to do so.

I’ve never seen so many mopeds in my life! If we saw 1 we probably saw 10,000 today and they’re all moving in different directions and cutting between cars or around cars to get where they want to go.

The majority of people on Bali are Hindu (75%) with 15% Muslim and the rest Catholic or Protestant. The Hindus are very religious and seemed to have a god for almost everything you could think of. Many of the houses we passed had multiple little temples in their yards to various gods and most of the temples had small “offerings” people had put on them. Anything from flowers to certain foods.

One of the most beautiful areas we saw today was the area where they have the rice terraces. It consisted of rice paddies that were tiered down the sides of hills and the green color was beautiful. Every farmer who had a rice paddy also seemed to have a small hut in the middle of the paddy with a cow in it. The cows stayed in the huts and the farmers fed them there and collected their manure to fertilize the rice paddies. Bagia told us the process the farmers go through to plant, irrigate and harvest their crops. It’s quite a complicated process and the farmers are at the mercy of the weather, birds and pests that eat the rice on the stalks, and some of the rice buyers who tend to underweight the rice so they cheat the farmers out of hard earned money.

We also saw a floating temple on a lake. The lake and its surroundings were very serene and the temple in the lake was beautiful. There were also several smaller temple type buildings on the land around the main temple and some gardens which were very pretty.

We ate lunch in an Indonesian restaurant near the rice tiers. Jet had a soup and I had a fried rice dish which had some friend chicken and a cooked egg on it as well as a few “sate” which are bamboo skewers with grilled meat on them. There was also a small salad but I didn’t want to risk eating anything raw. The meals were very good and our lunch, with 2 Cokes and tip, was about $15. Hard to beat that price for what we had.

We also stopped at a temple on the ocean. The temple sits on a small peninsula which is separated from the shore at high tide. During low tide, you can walk across to the temple. The ocean was beautiful and there was one area where there was an arch over the water which was pretty when the waves broke in that area.

We found that they harvest a lot of bamboo here. Some of the bamboo was probably 8-10 inches in diameter and they were climbing down steep cliffs to harvest it. Bagia told us that some of the larger diameter bamboo would be used to build outriggers on the traditional fishing boats they use here.

Tomorrow morning, Bagia will pick us up again and we’re going to see some other temples and visit the Ubud region which is known for its traditional crafts.

In a little while, the ship is having a Balinese dance group do a show with traditional dances. It should be interesting.

Until tomorrow.

Wonderful review.

Sorry that the original person you arranged to take you on tour didn't show up.

But glad to hear that you did get an excellent driver/guide for the day.