Dave's Live from Eurodam Trans-Atlantic, Aug. 27 - Sept. 12, 2013

[Jazmyn49]

Great posts and pix! Be on deck on the port side as you leave St. John's. Signal Hill is the gathering spot for the locals to wave at the ships as they depart. We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam as the last ship of the season and had a royal sendoff. Captain Mercer replied to the people and banners with mighty toots. The locals were among the friendliest we've ever met. We'll go back!

[sapper1]

Great posts and pix! Be on deck on the port side as you leave St. John's. Signal Hill is the gathering spot for the locals to wave at the ships as they depart. We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam as the last ship of the season and had a royal sendoff. Captain Mercer replied to the people and banners with mighty toots. The locals were among the friendliest we've ever met. We'll go back!

 

Newfies are the friendliest people you will ever encounter no matter where you travel.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love the pictures of St John's Newfoundland.

It has been at least 20 years since we were there.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The Bar Menu is the same one I posted some time ago.

 

Grey Goose is still $6.95.

[RetiredMustang]

Sun., Sept. 8, 2013, St. John’s (Cont.)

As you can see from the photos of the approach to town, Weather.com and the HAL daily program predictions of partly cloudy and 70 F were wild hyperbole, gross exaggeration or flat-out wrong.

We had an excursion for a walking tour called “A Stroll Through St. John’s. As we stepped off the ship, we even thought we should have brought sunglasses, as the skies were getting brighter. That feeling lasted at least 45 seconds; it quickly became gray again.

The walking tour started with a bus ride … um, what? OK, they explained that we would drive to the top of the hill of St. John’s and walk back, which sounded like an excellent arrangement to me; much better than the reverse. The bus dropped us near Government House. Our excellent tour guide pointed out some buildings from Fort William of early St. John’s history (some of which are now the Sheraton Hotel). We then walked to and into the foyer area of the Government House, the residence of the Lieutenant Governor:

We had a couple of quick passing showers, but thought nothing of it during this portion of the walk. The weather was lulling us into complacency. We then mosied past a green space and another historic building, the Colonial House (currently undergoing renovations, so not open), then on to the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. John the Baptist (the twin-towered building in the skyline photo in a previous post):

This was a beautiful cathedral, with lots of ornate decoration. But, while we were inside, the rain started. And how! We waited for a bit for the rain to slacken, and then strolled a bit faster to the Anglican cathedral, called … uh, St. John the Baptist. It, too, was a beautiful place of worship, and I could hear the rain really pounding on the roof as we toured it.

Our guide called for a bus to take us back to the ship instead of having us do the 6-8 minute walk back. Some opted to walk anyway.

When we pulled in, I noticed a lot of houses with a lot of color on them, kind of like Reykjavik and Nanortalik – I posted a photo in an earlier post. On the walk, I saw many more such houses. Here are some shots:

Colorful houses 2:

Colorful house 3:

Colorful houses 4:

It was a nice tour, about 2.5 hours, and our guide offered a lot of history and context. But, this is one tour that would be easy to do on your own – just get a map and some info from the St. John’s tourist info folks who were readily available, and set off on your way. I did notice from the vantage of the Catholic basilica that anyone who booked a tour that included a visit to Signal Hill and was hoping for a shot of the Eurodam in the harbor was out of luck, as the hill was socked in:

More later,

Dave

[innlady1]

Oh thank goodness. :D

 

LOL! :o

Edited September 9, 2013 by innlady1

[RetiredMustang]

Sun., Sept. 8, 2013, St. John’s (Cont.)

We came back, showered and changed to dry clothes, and had a drink before dinner. During dinner, the weather cleared and the fog lifted from the hills. Of course.

Here are the menus:

I had the mussels starter:

Followed by the liver with pancetta and onions and spinach:

For dessert, I had the most noblest chocolate dessert of all (or at least yet this cruise), the double chocolate tortlet, with both dark and milk chocolate mousses:

 

The weather continued to improve until just before sailaway, when the sun (which had been Godot all day) made a few cameo appearances, before setting behind the city in what was, OK, a pretty impressive show:

We attended the sailaway performance by the Lido pool of two kilted gentlemen from the Halifax Citadel, but we were too far away from the bagpiper corporal and Highlander sergeant to get a good photo. The bagpipe music filled the space, even though the ship opened the Lido roof.

More later,

Dave

[cruz chic]

Thx for today's update. I hope you see the sun sometime.

[RetiredMustang]

Monday, September 9, 2013, at sea

Yesterday was full of things to do, and I did not finish blogging it all until this morning. It should be a relaxing day at sea today, although there are all kinds of things going on if we are interested. Tonight is the final formal night. Here are the photos of today’s program:

More later,

Dave

[innlady1]

Beautiful photos, Dave. Thank you for taking us along!

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

Hey, Sail!! They had your Calf's Liver on the menu!!!:)

[RetiredMustang]

Mon., Sept. 9, 2013, at sea (Cont.)

We had breakfast in the Lido this morning, and when we went forward to the elevator to the Explorations Café, we discovered a wild scene – the towel animals were having a pool party. It seems many of the room stewards (including ours we later learned) had gotten together at 5:30 this morning to put together a tour de force of their art. What fun!

Here are some shots:

More later,

Dave

[RuthC]

Mon., Sept. 9, 2013, at sea (Cont.)

 

We had breakfast in the Lido this morning, and when we went forward to the elevator to the Explorations Café, we discovered a wild scene – the towel animals were having a pool party. It seems many of the room stewards (including ours we later learned) had gotten together at 5:30 this morning to put together a tour de force of their art. What fun!

Oh, what fun! :D I love it.

Give a whole new meaning to the term "chair hogs".

 

I am so glad you had your camera with you, and that you got there before the delightful scene was demolished.

[sapper1]

What fun!!!

[brazilgirl]

Oh , my kids would have loved that! They get such a kick out of towel animals.

[sppunk]

That is AWESOME!

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I am surprised that the crew could find the time to do all that! Really unique!

[grantwilma]

Thank you for bringing to life your voyage experience. I know this takes a lot of time. We're on this ship next year for our Baltic journey and have sailed on it last year through the Caribbean.

[startwin]

Mon., Sept. 9, 2013, at sea (Cont.)

 

We had breakfast in the Lido this morning, and when we went forward to the elevator to the Explorations Café, we discovered a wild scene – the towel animals were having a pool party. It seems many of the room stewards (including ours we later learned) had gotten together at 5:30 this morning to put together a tour de force of their art. What fun!

 

Here are some shots:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

 

Wow, sounds like a real fun morning! Great photos, Dave.:)

[Mumsysailor]

Thank you for bringing to life your voyage experience. I know this takes a lot of time. We're on this ship next year for our Baltic journey and have sailed on it last year through the Caribbean.

 

I noticed this is your first post. Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Mumsy.

[Copper10-8]

Awesome!:) Never seen that done before

[Mumsysailor]

Absolutely loving the towel animal pictures. I would have liked to have seen that for real. Great fun!

 

Mumsy.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Mumsysailor

[jaspersmycat]

Wow! This is what keeps me coming back to HAL. The crew members who did this went a step above.

[innlady1]

Hey, Sail!! They had your Calf's Liver on the menu!!!:)

 

Thanks for pointing that out, Linda! And, Dave posted a photo, too, as that was his entrée. It is yummy...I had it on either the Ryndam.

[innlady1]

That is so cool, Dave! What fun...haven't experienced a pool party for the towel animals yet! They do go above and beyond.....