Prinsendam 2005 World Tour... it has begun

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Many thanks once again Grumpy and Slinkie.

 

Just beaten to being post number 900!!!!!!!!!

 

Any one want to make a guess as to how many posts this thread will end up with????

 

I have a feeling this thread may well continue.......

long after Grumpy and Slinkie get home.

 

David.

[Ziggy7]

Grumpy & Slinkie,

So Glad Slinkie is ok from the attempted robbery. So glad Grumpy didnt have to hurt the guy! Something tells me Grumpy can get real Grumpy when someone hurts his Slinkie! hehehehe. Stay away from that cyclone and be safe you two!

[Classynfun1]

Thanks for keeping us informed! You've inspired me to put a world cruise on my list of things to do in my lifetime! Maybe when I graduate grad. school, or if not, in my golden years. I can tell that both of you really have something special together...:D

[venicecruiser]

Grumpy - Thanks for the latest installment! Still hoping you can meet Mandy before she leaves the ship...........

 

Claudia

[Sinbad37]

:D Ship' Log

Quizzicaly opening my email this AM titled "SHIPS'S LOG"', I thought it might be fun to share this one!

 

TRUE STORY ABOUT A LADY ON A CRUISE SHIP!

 

MONDAY AFTERNOON: What a wonderful cruise this is going to be. I felt singularly honored today as the Captain asked me to dine at his table tonight.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: I spent the entire afternoon on the bridge with the Captain. He explained everything he was doing and told me there are 1262 passengers on board and he is responsible for everyone's comfort, safety and having a good time. He is so charming and invited me to dine at his table again tonight.

WEDNESDAY EVENING: The Captain saw me at the pool this afternoon and invited me to have dinner in his cabin. His cabin is very cozy and the dinner was served with the best wines. He made several amorous proposals to me but I stood firm on my moral convictions.

THURSDAY EVENING: Tonight the Captain threatend to sink the ship if I do not give in to his exotic proposals.

FRIDAY MORNING: I saved 1262 lives last night ......twice.

 

 

;)

__________________

 

Can only imagine the stories you two would have to tell! Hope we can excite you to join us. Sorry I had not thought about "the time usage" matter, so will just close by thanking you for the low down on 196/197 aft suites and promise no more stories til you're home. Like all here, we love your informative and humorous details.

[Searanger]

Sinbad..loved your story...gave me a chuckle. Thought we better bump this back onto the first page so Grumpy can find it again. I always check every morning for the latest instalment of Grumpy's and Slinkie's adventures.

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, April 12, Day 89

 

Another Day... Another Continent... Visiting all of these new places is really getting boring... NOT!!!... Sunday, shortly before 1p, while about 200NM east of Durban, the captain announced that there were whales spotted off the port bow and a few minutes later, they were spotted on the starboard side. Grumpy, along with quite a few others headed up to deck 13, above the Crow's Nest, as the captain brought the ship about. There were at least two whales, which the captain identified as sperm whales and estimated to be about 20meters in length, that surfaced several times as the Prinsendam made a slow circle. One of them surfaced within 50 yards of the ship, just off the starboard bow. After about a half hour, the captain announced that he would have to resume course toward Durban, S Africa. It was the first whales that had been spotted since coming into Hilo, Hawaii...

 

The captain announced that the docking in Durban would be rather unusual... the harbor pilot would come aboard by helicopter. Now the Prinsendam does not have a helipad, so that means anyone coming aboard by helicopter will be lowered in a sling. The pilot's arrival was scheduled for 6a... very inconsiderate to "drop in" at that ungodly hour... so Slinkie and Grumpy missed the show. They did hear the helicopter circling, though...

 

The one tour that Slinkie and Grumpy would like to have taken... the Tala Game Preserve... was sold out before they got around to checking on booking it, so Durban was a "do your own thing" day. There was a shuttle bus available, but it wasn't going into town. Grumpy and Slinkie, along with several other couples, decided to walk into the city. It's about one mile from the ship to the edge of the business district... a pretty easy walk... past the Vasco da Gama clock and the Dick King statue. The group split up in the area of the Old Court House and park, and Grumpy and Slinkie headed West on West Street toward Victoria Market. West St is a mix of upscale shops, street vendors, arcades... a little of everything... Slinkie and Grumpy browsed through a lot of them... Slinkie found another pair of low heel shoes that are a little dressier than her evryday shoes for casual nights... 29 Rand... $4.71USD... and a cute sparklie red hat for her Red Hatter's outfit... 20 Rand... $3.25USD... Most of the jewellry stores were unimpressive... a lot of 9ct gold... mostly small stones. There was one beautiful Tanzanite ring that Grumpy was tempted to buy... about 2.6ct, very deep blue color... GIA guarantee... showed the pink/red flashes of light around the edges that distinguish Tanzanite from Iolite or synthetic stones... It was priced at 3000 Rand... $487USD... and that included the 14% VAT which would be refunded... Grumpy intended to stop back on the way back to the ship and bargain on it, but didn't get back to that shop... He's still thinking he passed up a very good buy on that one... The main reason he didn't buy it immediately was that it was set in 14ct white gold and Slinkie prefers yellow gold...

 

Eventually, Slinkie and Grumpy made their way to the Victoria Street Market area. Also known as the Indian Market, that is quite a place! Tubs of spices, labeled with names like "mother-in-law eliminator", all sorts of native crafts, lots of brassworks, clothing... you name it... Oh, don't forget the "traditional medicine shops"... bones, feathers, dried carcasses of various creatures... some were rather... aromatic... well, actually, they stunk like h**l... Part way through the market, Grumpy noticed that there were a lot of familiar faces approaching... all sporting little brightly colored stick-on tags with a HAL logo on them... The buses for the Durban City Tour had arrived for their short shopping tour of the market... There were lots of interesting things, but Grumpy and Slinkie left and continued on their way without buying anything... most of the souvenir items that were offered were also for sale in the terminal building next to the ship. Since it was nearing lunchtime, Slinkie and Grumpy started working their way back toward the ship, figuring to stop at a restaurant enroute. They stopped at a cafe that was on the ground floor of one of the highrise office buildings and enjoyed a light lunch before returning to the terminal. There was a small carved hippo and a set of place mats depicting birds of the region that wound up being liberated from the vendors that had held them captive, and two bottles of South African wine completed the day's shopping.

 

The Prinsendam sailed at 5p, the helicopter circling around until the Prinsendam was out to the mouth of the harbor. At that time, the helicopter moved in on the port bow, dropped a cable with a sling on the end down to the Promenade deck bow area and , seconds later, plucked the pilot off the deck, winched him up and went on its merry way. This time Slinkie and Grumpy were on Deck 13 and did get pictures of the action. All decks below the bridge level, forward, were closed off to passengers. Crew members were standing at the ready in full fire fighting mode in those areas. Why the Durbin Port Authority chooses to use a helicopter instead of a pilot boat wasn't explained... perhaps this thread's resident harbor master/ships master extraodinairre has some insight...

 

The entertainment last night was provided by Adrian Walsh, an Irish comedian. He was pretty good... he came up with a new term for "senior moments" that sounds much more sophisticated... "Intellectual interludes". He was bantering with the audience and had exchanged a couple of comments with Slinkie regarding senior moments... he asked her if she had ever had a "senior moment" and was probably going to pause just a second and then ask "would you remember if you did?"... but Slinkie was too quick... she shot back "I don't remember!"... after the laughter subsided, Adrian grumbled something about he was the one that was supposed to making the jokes... A thousand comedians out of work and Slinkie's trying to break into the business... did a pretty good job of it though...

 

Today is a sea day, and, as usual, the Prinsendam staff has lots of things lined up to keep the passengers occupied. In addition to the usual games, Exploration Series speaker Philip Leaky, environmentalist and politician, spoke on the "Basic History of Kenya Since Independence"... Ambassador Samuel F. Hart continued his series of talks with "South Africa Today - Problems and Promises"... South African political analyst Daniel Silke had a talk entitled "The Mother City - A Capetonian's Cape Town"... The wine expert, Hubrecht Duijker, hosted a wine tasting, Discovering the Wines of South Africa. Six wines were featured... 2004 KWV Chenin Blanc, 2004 Helderberg Sauvignon Blanc, Hamilton Russell 2004 Chardonnay and 2003 Pinot Noir, 2002 Kanonkop Estate Pinotage and 2001 Simonsig Shiraz... Most of the comments that Grumpy heard were along the lines of "I'll stay with Chilean wines" and "There are better choices". Grumpy didn't find anything that he would go searching for back home... Slinkie says her Blackstone Merlot still suits her just fine... Slinkie and Grumpy might not have signed up for the Tour of Stellenbosch and Wine Tasting if the onboard tasting had been presented earlier, but they will enjoy the tour of the countryside and perhaps find another South African wine that is more to their liking... Hubrecht was seated next to Slinkie at dinner last night, but the table companion to his left considers himself to be something of an expert on California Red wines and monopolized most of the conversation with Hubrecht.

 

Sometime around 4a, the Prinsendam will pass the Southernmost tip of Africa (no, it's not the Cape of Good Hope) and will then leave the Indian Ocean and enter the Atlantic Ocean. The Prinsendam is scheduled to dock at noon at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, practically at the doors of the Victoria Wharf shopping center... Grumpy's usual trick of walking 2 miles before getting to the stores, so Slinkie is too worn out for any serious shopping, probably won't work there...

 

VeniceCruiser, Mandy will be a part of the entertainment tonight. Soloist Jane Webster was scheduled, but she's a bit under the weather, so Mandy, Adrian Walsh and the New York Vagabonds are teaming up to provide a substitute show.

 

Tigerlilycruiser12... welcome to the thread... what took you so long to find it? Grumpy and Slinkie hope that you and Susie had a wonderful cruise on the NCL Dawn back in February...

 

Grumpy and Slinkie are looking forward to meeting up with the fellow CC'ers that are boarding in Capetown...

 

By the way, Grumpy found this thread on page 2 when he checked for recent posts... He assumes all of the USA posters are frantically working on their tax returns and don't have time to post... have fun...

 

Grumpy and Slinkie

 

[dakrewser]

The Prinsendam is scheduled to dock at noon at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

 

Freudian slip, or did Victoria have another husband we hadn't heard about? :)

 

I was happy to hear that Slinkie got the best of the comedian- those who live by the quip should occasionally be hoist on their own petard :rolleyes:

[Ziggy7]

practically at the doors of the Victoria Wharf shopping center... Grumpy's usual trick of walking 2 miles before getting to the stores, so Slinkie is too worn out for any serious shopping, probably won't work there...

 

Or maybe Slinkie is actually wearing you down so you just buy her anything, just to get back on the ship! hehehehe with us women Grumpy, it works both way heheheh :)

[venicecruiser]

Grumpy - Thanks for the cruise update and the "Mandy" update! I'm still hoping you get a chance to meet her..........

 

Claudia

[ekerr19]

Grumpy - I don't know how it got to page 2...!!! Nothing more exciting going on than this thread - that's for sure! As far as taxes, well we are filing in August. What do you do about taxes? Did you have to have them done before you leave?

 

What are you and Slinkie planning on doing as far as getting all your "loot" home? We just got back from the Caribbean and had to pay for two overweight bags from Florida... I can't imagine what it would be like trying to transport all your stuff home!

Thanks again for the update - I am still loving every minute of your journey. :)

[smoosh21]

You are going to love Cape Town. You must go up Table Mountain, and you must visit the Kirstenbosch gardens. Oh, and hopefully there is a trip to Boulder's Beach to visit the Penguins.

 

Cape Town is by far one of the most beautiful cities on earth.

[TexEm]

Grumpy and Slinkie--I just printed out all your posts for my mom (we're on the Prinsendam out of FLL 5/6) and even with very narrow margins and a size 10 type, it's still about 75 pages!! (I did add some of Stephen Card's posts about his paintings, but that was a pretty minimal part of it). I know she'll love reading about the ship and your adventures.

 

When you got off in L.A., did you have any security problems boarding again? (since there were people embarking then, too.) I plan to tour a little in NYC, and I think most people are embarking there, and wondered if I should anticipate any problems with getting back on.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post so often.

 

Mary

[blackbird71]

There was one beautiful Tanzanite ring that Grumpy was tempted to buy

 

:D Just tell yourself you did not want to be a bin Laden supporter... :p Up till 9-11 and maybe still today, he makes part of his money off the Tanzanite mines. :eek:

[crusinggranny]

Grumpy and Slinkie

 

I feel as if I know you personally and I, for one, will be sorry when your trip is over. I have so enjoyed your postings. I hardly ever go to bed at night without first checking to see if you have posted for that day and I must tell you that I am very disappointed when you have not.

 

You must be a writer and if now, should be. Your postings make me feel as if I am there with you and give me much pleasure to hear of the shopping quips.

 

Thank you so much and who knows, maybe some day we will meet here in Flordia.

 

Crusing granny

 

PS about the "Intectual Interludes". I love it as I am one who has more than I care to mention

[Time2sail]

They are the best! We may never get to take a (your) world cruise but reading about yours is a good substitute until we do. We can dream, can't we?

 

Can't wait for the next episode:) Thanks for letting us be a part of you travels. You are definitely page one reading.

[cands]

Dakrewser,

 

"Freudian slip, or did Victoria have another husband we hadn't heard about?"

 

Very funny, very Freudian.

 

Alfred was, of course, Queen Victoria's second son, who worked in South Africa on the waterfront in Cape Town. See www.waterfront.co.za.

 

Grumpy and Slinkie, I too have been reading this thread for weeks. Thank you!

 

Cape Town is the most amazing place. The shopping is excellent in the V& A centre. If you need more shopping, with perhaps a more local flavour, then the Mall in the centre of the city is the place to go. Many more locals shop there, and the prices are better than the V&A.

 

My tour of choice is the circuit route to Cape Point national park. It takes you down the Atlantic ocean side of the Cape past some incredible scenery to Cape Point.

On the way back, you drive up the Indian Ocean side through Simonstown and back to the city. The tour stopped at the penguin colonies. They run it as half day and full day tours in 7 seater mini-buses for about 350rand per person (half day).

This was a hightlight of our visit to Cape Town on board Royal Princess last December.

 

If you decide to go up Table Mountain make sure it is open before heading off in a taxi. It is closed quite a lot of the time because of high winds. Also, it can be very foggy up there. The views are just spectacular! If it is closed, its worthwhile just catching a cab up to Signal Hill. Here you can look out over Cape Town and environs and see Robben Island just off shore.

 

Have a great time.

 

Steve.

[bepsf]

Has anyone seen the 2006 World Cruise itinerary for Prinsendam?

 

Strangely, it doesn't go around the world....

 

[JLT]

I, right along with the rest of the world, have been fascinated by this detailed account of your cruise. Today I heard that one of the volunteers at the Clearwater Library is also on a World Cruise. It just might be yours. So, if you run into Lucille, from Clearwater, tell her that one of the former librarians is travelling vicariously with her.

[PRINSENDAM]

Prinsendam 2005, April 12, Day 89

Why the Durbin Port Authority chooses to use a helicopter instead of a pilot boat wasn't explained... perhaps this thread's resident harbor master/ships master extraodinairre has some insight...

 

Grumpy and Slinkie

 

[/quote)

 

 

Hallo Grumpy & Slinkie,

 

Not many days left now. :(

 

Ok regarding pilots board by helicopted in Durban.... The Durban Port Authoity says:

 

 

Pilotage is compulsory for all vessels from a point three n.miles northeast of the port entrance, with a helicopter performing pilot transfers, which is replaced by pilot boat when the helicopter is unavailable.

 

 

 

I suspect that it is faster and easier to run pilots out by helicopter and I guess the accountants within the Durban Port Authority have decided that it is cheaper than running a boat. I'd have thought it cheaper to run a boat... since one is required for stand-by anyway... and employ a couple of boatmen rather than a helicopter pilot and crew. I wonder if the ship pilots like being winched up and down every time they go to work? No thanks!!!!!:eek:

 

Please say a big hello to Sheri, Andre, Fekko etc.

 

Stephen

[stanford's girl]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

 

Enjoy reading about your adventures. This is probably the only "world cruise" I will ever take. But I have been told to "never say never"!;) Who knows what the future holds?

[blackbird71]

 

I suspect that it is faster and easier to run pilots out by helicopter and I guess the accountants within the Durban Port Authority have decided that it is cheaper than running a boat. I'd have thought it cheaper to run a boat... since one is required for stand-by anyway... and employ a couple of boatmen rather than a helicopter pilot and crew. I wonder if the ship pilots like being winched up and down every time they go to work? No thanks!!!!!:eek:

 

Stephen

 

Maybe not the accountants but the pilots themselves. Some places the pilots get paid by boat, then they could service more boats per day and make more money per day.

 

The last I heard the pilots in Tampa Bay make over $250,000 per year and while it is call a "pilot's union" they are more a very close knit family. A couple of them have a major drinking problem, and there have been ships that hit the side of the channel and other problems but the "family" always protects the member.

[Traveller1]

Thanks once again Grumpy & Slinkie for posting such a great message. I can't get over your kindness in continuing to do this after all this length of time. I also look at least once a day to see if you have posted and I read them to my husband when you have. I also share your message with other friends so you are reaching a long way round the world.

 

Dont worry about the Tanzanite--maybe a nicer one will be available at your next stop! Slinkie can live in hopes anyway.

 

We're so glad you are still enjoying yourselves and so often without the ship's tours also. We're very happy for you both.

[WISCruiser]

Has anyone seen the 2006 World Cruise itinerary for Prinsendam?

 

Strangely, it doesn't go around the world....

 

 

I agree, BEPSF... I'd call it a "Half" WC:p

[Rotterdam]

Grumpy -

 

Since Slinkie likes to choose her own fruit & vegetables from the buffet - is that how she got a peach of a guy like you??????????

 

 

Also - Stephen - I rceived the Cunarder today on the mail - Cunard has a noce article about you & the new book!!!!

 

Isthe champagne chilled????