Bridge Opportunities

[Grandants]

We will be on the Amsterdam in late October and wondered what type

of bridge opportunities might be available?

[Jemima]

I see this is your 3rd Cruise Critic post. You had a recent post asking about the Nieuw Amsterdam, but are asking now about the Amsterdam. Are these two different cruises? If it is the same cruise, the Nieuw Amsterdam and Amsterdam are different ships.

The Amsterdam will be in the midst of a 75 day grand voyage in October. Longer HAL cruises generally have organized bridge and I'd expect a grand voyage to do so. The Nieuw Amsterdam has mostly one week cruises. There is usually not organized bridge on these, but there is a card area. You may find others there wanting to play bridge.

[mr green]

I have normally found ACBL bridge on HAL cruises, but, by the same token these were longer cruises.

 

john

[JYGresham]

As former bridge lecturers and game directors, if organized games are not listed in the daily bulletin you can always ask the cruise director to allow you to put a signup sheet in the card room for those wishing to get together for games. Unless there is a certilfied director there will be no duplicate bridge but I'd say you would have a good chance of getting up rubber bridge games.

[Doh15]

Am I the only one who thought this was about opportunities to visit the bridge? :o

 

In any case, on our recent 7 day cruise I think they put "card playing" times in the daily Explorer and there was usually 1-2 tables going (although one time they tried to recruit us and we were just there for drinks ;)).

[mr green]

Am I the only one who thought this was about opportunities to visit the bridge?:o.

 

This was claimed to be a true story.

Bridge directors , husband and wife had to take a cabin with the ship's officers. Later, on the first evening they went happily to their cabin, after a few drinks.

They were approched by a new, junior officer who informed them that the deck was out of bounds to regular cruisers.

'That's quite all right', was the reply, 'We are the new bridge directors'.

'Your the WHAT', came the staggered reply.:D

 

john

[PathfinderEss]

We will be on the Amsterdam in late October and wondered what type

of bridge opportunities might be available?

Good question, are you asking about play the card game bridge or going to the bridge for a tour?

I'm going to presume you mean the card game, bridge. They have a card room, so maybe you can find passengers that would want to play. You would probably need to talk to the CD.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On the Amsterdam -- people signed up for bridge playing in the Explorations Cafe. They would play in the Hudson Room on days when there wasn't a group in there. Usually from 10 AM until Noon and 2 - 4 PM. On days when a small group had a meeting in there -- they met in the King's Room.

There was no bridge lecturer on our cruise.

[pv girl]

We have never had a bridge director on any of our cruises but have played rubber/social bridge with some delightful new friends on all of them. The daily program always listed bridge 10am-noon and sometimes also 2pm-4pm. It is usually in the Hudson Room and the staff sets up the room with tables/chairs and provides cards, pencils, score pads, and usually ice water and glasses. Sometimes they have added coffee/tea/cookies. On our 14-day Baltic, the Hudson Room was sometimes used for other groups (Dutch travel agency) and then the venue was Crows Nest. They sectioned off an area and set up tables and chairs. Only problem there, was the noise from other activities in the Crows Nest.

After a few days, a regular group shows up and it is lots of fun. Sometimes others show up and play different card games.

[Typhoon1]

On the Amsterdam -- people signed up for bridge playing in the Explorations Cafe.

 

I have periodically seen groups in there also.

[wanderingjew]

I have normally found ACBL bridge on HAL cruises, but, by the same token these were longer cruises.

 

john

No more Bridge programs after sept.

[searanch queen]

Am I the only one who thought this was about opportunities to visit the bridge? :o

 

In any case, on our recent 7 day cruise I think they put "card playing" times in the daily Explorer and there was usually 1-2 tables going (although one time they tried to recruit us and we were just there for drinks ;)).

 

I'm with you, how about a trip to the bridge? :)

[chandrisellinis]

We travelled on Veendam last year on a 29 day cruise Rio to Ft Lauderdale.

Cruise Bridge Director great had been on 99 cruises and held bridge essons in the morning and duplicate bridge in the afternoon on sea days.

Interesting comment above that this stops this month.:mad:

[Gypsy025]

There are definitely Bridge Directors on SOME Holland America cruises.

My wife, Ingrid, is an ACBL certified Director and we will be sailing on the Fall Panama Canal cruise (September 23 – October 12, 2012), Vancouver to Ft. Lauderdale and the Canary Islands Holiday cruise (December 22, 2012 – January 9, 2013).

We give lectures in the morning and run duplicate games in the afternoon on all sea days. We always have many very enthusiastic participants.

We hope some of you will join us.

[JYGresham]

We travelled on Veendam last year on a 29 day cruise Rio to Ft Lauderdale.

Cruise Bridge Director great had been on 99 cruises and held bridge essons in the morning and duplicate bridge in the afternoon on sea days.

Interesting comment above that this stops this month.:mad:

 

Can anyone verify that "Bridge stops in Sept". This is rather ambiguous. Does it include all HAL ships?

[Beejay4016]

I'm still waiting for somebody to comment on visits to the bridge. I'd love to be able to arrange that for my husband on his birthday next year - the cruise is his birthday present. Can anybody advise on whether they are possible, and if so how they are arranged?

 

Cheers .. :)

[chandrisellinis]

Pity, Will not be able to take below cruises however many thanks for the info.

Wish there was a site that showed this type of info for all cruises.

 

 

quote=Gypsy025;35207532]There are definitely Bridge Directors on SOME Holland America cruises.

My wife, Ingrid, is an ACBL certified Director and we will be sailing on the Fall Panama Canal cruise (September 23 – October 12, 2012), Vancouver to Ft. Lauderdale and the Canary Islands Holiday cruise (December 22, 2012 – January 9, 2013).

We give lectures in the morning and run duplicate games in the afternoon on all sea days. We always have many very enthusiastic participants.

We hope some of you will join us.

[LADYLAYLA]

I'm still waiting for somebody to comment on visits to the bridge. I'd love to be able to arrange that for my husband on his birthday next year - the cruise is his birthday present. Can anybody advise on whether they are possible, and if so how they are arranged?

 

Cheers .. :)

 

 

Closest would probably be the Behind Ship tour they do for 150.00 on some of the ships. Stop at the front desk when you board if possible to inquire about it.

[Beejay4016]

Closest would probably be the Behind Ship tour they do for 150.00 on some of the ships. Stop at the front desk when you board if possible to inquire about it.

 

Hi LadyLayla (love the name). Many thanks for that; I'll make a note of it and follow it up once on board. I know my man would love to do it.

 

Cheers .. Bev

[mr green]

I'm still waiting for somebody to comment on visits to the bridge. I'd love to be able to arrange that for my husband on his birthday next year - the cruise is his birthday present. Can anybody advise on whether they are possible, and if so how they are arranged?

 

Cheers .. :)

 

In case you don't understand this thread has nothing to do with, and was never intended to even mention 'tours'!!!

 

john

[mr green]

No more Bridge programs after sept.

 

Please indicate where you found this information.

 

john

[sail7seas]

I'm still waiting for somebody to comment on visits to the bridge. I'd love to be able to arrange that for my husband on his birthday next year - the cruise is his birthday present. Can anybody advise on whether they are possible, and if so how they are arranged?

 

Cheers .. :)

 

 

You could send a letter to Chief Officer or Captain by way of the Front Office. It doesn't hurt to ask and the earlier in the cruise you send your request, the better.

 

Hope you are able to arrange that for your DH's birthday. :)

Don't get your hopes up too high, though.

 

[Beejay4016]

In case you don't understand this thread has nothing to do with, and was never intended to even mention 'tours'!!!

 

john

 

Hi John,

 

Thanks for your comment, but if you read some of the other posts you will see that I wasn't the only person who wasn't sure whether the "bridge" referred to was the bridge of the vessel, or the card game. Your comment, and particularly your exclamation marks, was probably a tad unnecessary, but I'll assume you are caffeine depleted and wish you a happy day anyway. :)

 

Cheers ..

[Beejay4016]

You could send a letter to Chief Officer or Captain by way of the Front Office. It doesn't hurt to ask and the earlier in the cruise you send your request, the better.

 

Hope you are able to arrange that for your DH's birthday. :)

Don't get your hopes up too high, though.

 

 

 

Hi there Sail7Seas,

 

Many thanks for that suggestion; I'll certainly do that as I have a few months in which to organise things.

 

I think one of the best things about these threads is that it allows you to make a mental note of "People I've love to cruise with" and "Oh God, please don't let that person be on my cruise". Helpful people are always a joy to come across.

 

Cheers .. Bev

[JYGresham]

We are still hoping for a definitive answer to the post about there being no duplicate bridge games after September, as we plan a 30 daycruise next April and are avid players and former bridge directors and lecturers.