Live from the MS Nieuw Amsterdam with thekuhnfamily...!

[illinoisfive]

Kevin, glad you and Nancy are havinga nice time. Mom came over yesterday and I showed her the replay of your sailaway from Port Everglades. She was so excited that she could actually see you two waving goodbye! Thanks for all the great updates! How long do you get the golf cart in T&C? Continue to have fun!

[jtl513]

...my only real disappointment on HAL is the toast… it is always cold and hard as a rock.

It's done on-the-spot in the Lido ... and you can get 6 kinds of Eggs Benedict there! :)

Also, the Retreat Cabanas are a WiFi hot-spot, so the internet is almost as fast here as at home… my faster than even the Explorations Café.

The primary speed bottleneck is the satellite link and the number of people on-line sharing it with you at the time, not the connection to the ship's server. The access point in the Retreat won't be any faster than it is in the Explorations Cafe. You were either in a better spot in the ocean or had fewer friends on-line. :)

[AmyinVail]

Hi, Amy!!!!

 

Ahhhhhh!! You made my afternoon! Sorry to hound 'ya :D

 

If I may...would you mind asking your cabana attendants how often folks reserve the cabanas and later cancel? With the little darlings (pool side), I'm interested in the lido cabanas, but they've been sold out for MONTHS! Ship services says to check first day as sometimes folks cancel....or see it and change their minds, etc. I'm still holding onto the hopes of getting one...but, thought I would see if you could ask?? :rolleyes:

[terrydtx]

I just got through reading all of the posts from the TheKuhnFamily and now I really have cruise fever :cool:as we will be on the NA in less than 2 weeks. I do not know how I will be able to get any work done for the next week:confused: Thank you TheKuhnFamily for your narratives and I can't wait for the next entry:D

 

Terry

[knitlady037]

Gladd you are enjoying your trip!

[Cruzin Terri]

I'm happy I read here about this key system a while ago as our cabin on Eurodam did not require a card in the slot.

 

I am hoping it does not have to be the ship's ID/key card but can be any card of that size (which I've been led to understand is the case.)

It can be any card you like. I used an expired AAA card. It worked fine.

Terri

[barante]

As I walked to the bar, I could not find one person in a Tuxedo – and it was formal night! I walked and walked and finally even went to the front desk to make sure it was formal night!! It was!

 

All told, no more than 5% of the men wore tuxedos… about 25% wore dark suits, 35 wore sport coats… and the rest wore simply shirts. I was amazed, and have never seen that before. A HAL friend informed me that they were rejecting people in the MDR for not wearing coats and asked them to return to their rooms to change if they’d like – or go to the Lido. Even he was surprised at the low turnout for tuxedos.

 

.

 

Our procentages on the Oct. 15 Greece/Turkey/Croatia cruises and the subsequent trans-Atlantic were pretty similar. We cruise often enough and on different lines to witness how rapid this change toward informality has spread. So my thought for the next HAL cruise, a 37-day run on the Volendam from Auckland to Vancouveer, is to do a nice blazer thing. Formal enough. On our cruise we began dining in the Master Dining Room on the "dine when you wish" basis. But the further our 28 day progressed, the more we gravitated toward Lido.

We did the Tamarind twice, one gifted by our travel agent and the other by HAL, Cannoletto twice and a lunch at the Pinnacle. Liked the Tamarind's washabi sherbet. The Pinnacle lunch was nicely presented but not really worth the $10 pp. charge. What made Lido particularly attractive as a lunch option was a station serving Asian food. One day it was Indian, the next Indonesian, Korean, etc. I thought tandoori chicken was pretty tough, but everything else was splendid.

Another food station served salads. I thought NA's food was consistently good. But I'm sure some other passengers might disagree but that's my final answer.

I guess we skipped two of the eight formals. Instead we ate surf-and-turf at Lido and caught the 7 p.m. movie.

[barante]

The primary speed bottleneck is the satellite link and the number of people on-line sharing it with you at the time, not the connection to the ship's server. The access point in the Retreat won't be any faster than it is in the Explorations Cafe. You were either in a better spot in the ocean or had fewer friends on-line. :)

I have gotten sick and tired of all ships' internet speed. When we returned from our recent NA cruise, we flew on AirTran. They are equipped with a pay-on-demand onboard wi-fi, which was blazing fast compared to NA. There are now so many wi-fi hotspots around that I do most of my internetting sitting in a port cafe. About the only thing about HAL's wi-fi is that you can read the NY Times online free of charge.

[edmusic]

TheKuhnFamily wrote: As I walked to the bar, I could not find one person in a Tuxedo – and it was formal night! I walked and walked and finally even went to the front desk to make sure it was formal night!! It was!

 

All told, no more than 5% of the men wore tuxedos… about 25% wore dark suits, 35 wore sport coats… and the rest wore simply shirts. I was amazed, and have never seen that before. A HAL friend informed me that they were rejecting people in the MDR for not wearing coats and asked them to return to their rooms to change if they’d like – or go to the Lido. Even he was surprised at the low turnout for tuxedos.

Your 5% turnout was much higher than our experience on the NA in March. As a tuxedo owner and wearer, I was highly anticipating the formal nights and all the regalia associated with it. To my horror, I saw only ONE other gentleman dressed in a tux. ONE, out of 900 men on the ship! Now in all fairness, there were five of us dressed in tuxes on the second formal night. At the very least, I witnessed the maitre 'd actually turn away a man who was dressed only in slacks and a short sleeved button shirt.

[innlady1]

Your 5% turnout was much higher than our experience on the NA in March. As a tuxedo owner and wearer, I was highly anticipating the formal nights and all the regalia associated with it. To my horror, I saw only ONE other gentleman dressed in a tux. ONE, out of 900 men on the ship! Now in all fairness, there were five of us dressed in tuxes on the second formal night. At the very least, I witnessed the maitre 'd actually turn away a man who was dressed only in slacks and a short sleeved button shirt.

 

I'm not trying to start a dress code controversy here, but as far as I'm concerned, HAL either needs to either enforce the dress code (turn everyone away, across the board, who isn't wearing a jacket and tie), OR do away with Formal nights all together.

I've been here for 5 1/2 years, and I've read the same complaints over and over...and HAL doesn't do anything to correct the situation.

[cruz chic]

Thanks for keeping us up to date. I'm enjoying your reports and your sense of humor.

[Himself]

Dear Kuhn Family:

 

Thank you for the great updates. I am enjoying reading your posts as I battle a head cold here in Manhattan, IL. I kind of wish I was on the NA. Have a great day in San Juan and an even better day in St. Maarten.

Himself

[ASIWISH]

Tuesday evening:

 

You would have all been proud of the nap I took this afternoon… I really have Total Wine to thank, though.

 

It turns out, that not only do we have the Corporate Trainers in from Seattle at work introducing a few new things, but they are also filming a new Hal Video around the ship… So, if you hear some snoring in the background of the Retreat portion of the video, that was Nancy… (our little secret!)

 

A good many staff have brought up the new HAL ship being build in Japan… they feel very happy about it… but, are afraid 3,000 might be too many. As for the trainers, they are introducing a new Master Chef Dinner format – unsure what it is, and working with the Wine Stewards to introduce enhanced Wine by the Glass to them… again, unsure what that means.

 

We bar hoped tonight, starting with the Ocean Bar, then the Pinnacle Bar, then the Explorers Lounge, but couldn’t make it to the Silk Den – there was an LGBT Event there, so we weren’t sure if was open to the public.

 

Dinner in the Manhattan Dining Room, at table 122 (thank you again, ADE!) was very special. Tonight’s featured Chef Council Chef was none other than Chef Charlie Trotter… another Chicago Chef!!!! And he has won 10 James Beard Awards, including Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Restaurant…!!! He is a legend!

 

His featured menu items:

Rainbow Trout with Citrus-Cured Salmon Tartare: Rainbow Trout filet wrapped around a citrus salmon tartare, delicately poached in chive-chervil broth, served chilled with marinated jumbo shrimp and salmon caviar… wow! Unsure the shrimp was needed with this dish, but I appreciated it! Also, cilantro would have been a beter garnish as the flat leaf Italian parsley was a little overpowering. IMO.

 

Flank Steak with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette.: Broiled until tender, presented with crispy cheesy polenta cake and sautéed green beans, surrounded with roasted shallots in balsamic vinegar glaze.

 

We had the trout and ordered King Crab Legs… but Hery brought is a large plate of the sautéed green beans, surrounded with roasted shallots in balsamic vinegar glaze that was offered with the flank steak. For about three-minutes I considered becoming a vegetarian because it was so good.

 

Too tired for dessert, we headed up to the room. Before leaving, we mentioned how good the Chocolate Brownie Stack looked (Decedent brownie layered with creamy chocolate pudding, piled with chocolate cake chunks and drenched with milk ganache). To our surprise, the was a knock on the door ten-minutes later. It was Ade, with two orders – PLUS A SIDE OF VANILLA ICE CREAM. “we didn’t was Ms. Nancy to miss out on anything this week… please enjoy.” This crew is unbelievable.

 

Anyway, the show was amazing… looking forward to a week in that theatre. I think anyone would be just as pleased… they really assembled some great talent.

 

I sat through many of the “smoking” threads on these boards… but don’t recall the particulars. I will say that the casino and sports bar are impossible for us to walk through due to the smoke – even on the first afternoon… and every day smoke can be smelled in the hallways. Not judging here, but for non-smokers like us it can be offensive. It ruins that entire portion of the deck for us. Again, IMO.

 

I’m starting to like the Captain, but he is a bit stiff… as is John the Cruise Director. Seems like a very nice man, but it feels like he reading off a script. Very god, but not as good a Shane and the others we have had.

 

The seas are calm tonight, and we are traveling to San Juan at 17.6 knots. The clocks go ahead an hour tonight, which simply means I have one hour less to wait for those wonderful smiles and “good morning, Mr. Kevins” from our crew…

 

We have struggled a bit with the wind, as it has been pretty consistent with the apparent winds at about 45 knots…

 

Tomorrow is shopping ‘til Nancy drops… please pray for me. Then, we’ll have lunch at a restaurant we saw on Man vs Food on the Food Network. I believe it is called Café Races… on of out favorites. Then, the beautiful sail a way at night… anxious to see the fort lit up.

 

 

My very best to you from the beautiful and elegant MS Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Sweet dreams… and wish me luck with this Brownie.

[jtl513]

A good many staff have brought up the new HAL ship being build in Japan… they feel very happy about it… but, are afraid 3,000 might be too many.

:confused: What is this? This is news to me. Cruise Critic doesn't seem to know about it either:

NEW CRUISE SHIPS ON ORDER :)

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing your cruise adventure.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your reports from on board the ship.

[ASIWISH]

Ahhhhhh!! You made my afternoon! Sorry to hound 'ya :D

 

If I may...would you mind asking your cabana attendants how often folks reserve the cabanas and later cancel? With the little darlings (pool side), I'm interested in the lido cabanas, but they've been sold out for MONTHS! Ship services says to check first day as sometimes folks cancel....or see it and change their minds, etc. I'm still holding onto the hopes of getting one...but, thought I would see if you could ask?? :rolleyes:

 

Hi, Amy... I asked at the cabanas and at the front desk... they couldn't really tell me, as the reservations are made in Seattle... they only see the reservations just prior to the cruise. Sorry!!!!

[CR dude]

Keep ‘em coming – appreciate the great information – will depart Costa Rica Friday to board the ship right after you disembark. Flora really liked the wide selection of books in Spanish in the Maasdam library last March . . . . trust that the NA library also has a good assortment.

 

Jim and Flora

[SmokinActuary]

Thanks for the reports! I can't wait to get on the ship this Sunday.

[Boytjie]

Originally Posted by TheKuhnFamily

A good many staff have brought up the new HAL ship being build in Japan… they feel very happy about it… but, are afraid 3,000 might be too many.

 

 

:confused: What is this? This is news to me. Cruise Critic doesn't seem to know about it either:

NEW CRUISE SHIPS ON ORDER :)

 

Is it April 1? New ship builds are never a secret here and HAL has (since Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam at least) announced new builds prior to any consruction starting.

[terrydtx]

Is it April 1? New ship builds are never a secret here and HAL has (since Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam at least) announced new builds prior to any construction starting.

 

The new ship is being built with state of the art stealth technology, you will not see it or hear it until it docks for the first time.:p

[Himself]

This is the first I knew of a new HAL ship being built in Japan. How about the name: I DON'T GIVE A DAM

[jtl513]

Is it April 1? New ship builds are never a secret here and HAL has (since Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam at least) announced new builds prior to any consruction starting.

The Costa Fascinosa will be 3000, and Carnival Breeze could be referred to as 3000 (ballpark), but they're both being built by Fincantieri.

[aviatrguy]

Well...HAL's parent company, Carnival Corporation has 2 3250 passenger ships on order for their AIDA brand at Mitsubishi in Japan. Maybe 1 is going to be re-assigned to HAL.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/idUS78579+03-Aug-2011+PRN20110803

[hulamoon]

Is there really a new build? What a great rumor, or secret, either way it grabs the attention.