A Grouch Does the Prinsendam – Live

[ANSalberg]

Have a MARVELOUS cruise -a repositioning is one of our VERY favorite SHORT cruises

 

You DO understand that a good Chardonnay or Merlot is GREAT for paranoia

[NYteacher]

We had a great CD on the Statendam this past August. I am not great at names but I might recognize it if I saw it again. He is a former actor and vey personable.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We were asked if we wanted to buy the ship's filtered water on the Zuiderdam in September. The couple at the table next to us wanted to buy Perrier but the steward kept pitching the ship's filtered water. It was too funny.

[erewhon]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

Hope you are able continue between announcements announcements.:D

[bcd2010]

We had a great CD on the Statendam this past August. I am not great at names but I might recognize it if I saw it again. He is a former actor and vey personable.

 

Our CD in March was Steve James and I heard that not long after that, Anthony (Choice?) was the CD.

[pepsigirl64]

:) I am looking forward to your posts whenever the "internet fairy" allows postings.

[Mary Ellen]

We're looking forward to any future updates - should you decide to do them. ;) Too bad that Thom is no longer the CD on the Prinsendam. Usually CDs are extraneous to our enjoying a cruise, but Thom stood out from the rest. He was excellent.

 

Bon Voyage to you and your DW from both of us! :D

[Copper10-8]

We had a great CD on the Statendam this past August. I am not great at names but I might recognize it if I saw it again. He is a former actor and vey personable.

 

Anthony Heywood and Anthony Choice were SADM's CD's in August. Don't know Heywood but Choice is very personable

[goodroe]

Thank you - really looking forward to more of your very entertaining comments. As we will soon be on her for the first time am very interested in hearing about the "Elegant Explorer". Hope you have a great cruise and thanks for bringing her back to Fort Lauderdale for us!! ;)

[English_in_Spain]

I am looking forward to reading about your day here in Alicante tomorrow (Friday).

 

The weather here at the moment is pleasant - sunny and low 20s - although now we are in November it does get chilly at night.

 

Have a great time

 

[monina01]

the title of your thread caught my eye immediately and already loving it.

Also very curious about the dessert....:)

[PetNanny]

Thanks for posting. Am looking forward to reading more.

[catl331]

Dear Grouch: you have your own writing style and I love it!

 

One doesn't HAVE to pay for this dessert unless you want it. I wouldn't pay extra. Is the asking if you want this water just done in Europe? They certainly do it in all the restaurants on land.

 

Keep it up because we all can get grouchy on some cruises. I, too, hate excessive announcements.

 

Anthony Choice is an excellent and personable CD!

[Loreto]

We are on the Prinsendam after you and the dry dock...looking forward to your humorous posts!

 

Karen

[gigianne]

We should never have to "endure" Cruise Directors - IMO they can make or break a cruise. We have been very fortunate to have had excellent CD's on our past cruises - and are looking forward to our Prinsendam cruise next May!

[whogo]

November 1, 2012 To answer you questions, the dessert for sale may have been a drink. I tuned out as soon as I saw the dollar sign. Nothing for sale on tonight's menu, but yes, they did ask again if we wanted to buy their triple filtered water for $2.95. I hope they do not continue the pitch all the way to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

 

Last night the ship rolled, the seasick bags were available and some were used. Cruise director Carlos welcomed us to the showroom at sea in his normal voice, not his slow public address voice, the man is growing on me. The showroom seems too small to accommodate all the passengers, yet was not even one third full for this show. The only announcement was after the captain's midday report, an unneeded rehashing of the daily Explorer.

 

 

Although Carlos said that the piano man would play every night in the Crow's Nest from 9:00 to 12:00, he was not up there between 10:00 and 10:30. No one was there. Anyone that was still out and about was at the Halloween party in the Ocean Bar. It seems there are thirty partiers aboard (if you count cruise staff) and 800 in bed early. I will be interested in the official passenger count. I fear storm Sandy may have kept a number of cruisers from reaching the ship.

 

 

I was awakened about 4:30 AM by a light flashing in my eyes. It was a lighthouse beacon in the narrow straight between Corsica and Sardinia. I never get awakened by lighthouses at home. I am not in Kansas any longer.

 

 

Our eavesdropping cabin steward asked if DW was feeling better this morning. How did he know she had been seasick if he is not spying on us? I am not paranoid.

 

 

Tai Chi with Meagan was great. She is an excellent instructor and fellow classmates were attentive and did well. Breakfast in the dining room was civilized. Service continued to be superb. I see no reason to eat in the Lido when I can have someone bring my food to me. Good group for team trivia, we did well but did not win. What was the first war in which West Point graduates served? What country receives the most foreign tourists?

 

 

Enjoyed our balcony for the first time, sitting out under cool, mostly cloudy skies to read and to write these notes. Formal night, the women look lovely, the men well turned out. I was unwilling to lug fifteen pounds of dark suit and shoes to Europe. Instead I wear a wore an ill-fitting, rented polyester dinner jacket. Oh, the humiliation! I am ready to move on to a more casual cruise line. Dinner offerings of quail, lobster thermidor, and rack of lamb help mollify the situation.

 

 

“We” won at “Name That Tune” with no help from me. I was lucky enough to bumble into a team with a couple of ringers. Prizes were big Holland America pins.

 

 

We will be three hours late arriving in Alicante due to head winds and a late departure from Civitavecchia. The captain said we waited for a shore excursion to return from Rome. I should have time to see Castle Santa Barbara, the cathedral, have a wander around the old town and grab a beer.

 

 

Great cruise. If it continues like this I may have to edit “grouch” out of the title of this thread.

[Bluwater7]

thanks for the review - looking forward to the next one.

[kazu]

Delighted you are having a good time - don't edit your title - we'll lose the thread:) Sounds like you are not having any problems with your thermostat or cold air:confused::confused: someone else posted how miserable the conditions were which really took me aback.

 

enjoying your live thread very much - continue on as long as you can (or are willing). thanks so much for taking the time:)

[WeRockChalkKU]

Love your posts. Hope you are able to continue for the duration of your cruise. We don't think you deserve the Grouch title since you also give praise too. We sail on the Pdam in December and are trying gather as much info as we can.

[metairiegal]

Too funny about your cabin steward. :D

[SuitCaseBears]

Love your posts - it's inspiring me to actually do the live posting next week (YIPPEE IT IS ... almost... NEXT WEEK) on Nieuw Amsterdam to the E. Caribbean.

[the2ofus]

I am enjoying your delightful descriptions of life aboard my favorite HAL ship. Might you be a curmudgeon rather than a grouch? Your attitude is too benign to qualify as a grouch.

[spacepotatoes]

Great review so far! Very entertaining :) Hope the rest of your cruise in enjoyable, I'm looking forward to reading more about it.

 

Someone earlier asked if HAL still had any good CDs left...I don't have anyone to compare him to since we've only done one HAL cruise, but we liked JT Waters on the Zuiderdam in July. My parents also really liked Shane when he was on the Zuiderdam last year. Not sure where either of them are now.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great review.

Love traveling along with you.

We had that "water" sell on a cruise -- can't remember which ship -- they even had a display at the front of the dining room.

[floatie]

Hi. This is your room steward and I am not monitoring you. Honest!