Join Pete and Judy on their FIRST World Cruise on the Amsterdam

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Thanks for the title - is this the second one? Or did I miss one?

 

 

Third...second was Paul Theroux book that was a pillow gift. The happy isles of Oceania

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Your timely response is wonderful thank you so much. Surprised they are closing usually stay open till guest leave casino..

 

 

Yes it is weird.....casino dead most of the day....think they would adjust and stay open later

[The-Inside-Cabin]

 

4pm local location

 

 

 

Thank you, I always followup your CC posts with the http://www.blog, but had not seen the reference to mileage and avg speed. I will enjoy watching that as you navigate through different areas of the world. Thanks again, Cherie

 

 

I post things like the cruise log, pillow gifts, all menus and on location guides on the blog under world cruise reference...

Edited February 18, 2016 by The-Inside-Cabin

[windsor26]

Third...second was Paul Theroux book that was a pillow gift. The happy isles of Oceania

 

I,ve read this book, seems the inhabitants we not that happy as they keep eating each other. Loved his folding canoe and you could fit it under your bed!!

[erewhon]

Thanks for your reports.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Third...second was Paul Theroux book that was a pillow gift. The happy isles of Oceania

 

Thanks for the response - I just finished the Happy Isles - to me it was riveting - really enjoyed it. Thanks for keeping we readers informed of the book club selections. Just requested Peony in Love from the library.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Day 44, Sailing towards Darwin, Australia

 

Early this morning, around sunrise, we passed the tip of the Cape York Peninsula and headed west towards Darwin thru the Torres Strait. The numerous islands of the Great Barrier Reef became more sparse and finally disappeared altogether, replaced by the ocean’s endless horizon. I was walking the promenade deck at the time we made our turn and watched as the ship’s wake, arrow straight all morning, became a gentle curve. After a few minutes, the wake straightened once again as the ship steadied on her westward course.

 

When I started my 2 mile walk the sun had just appeared over the horizon and the temperature was quite pleasant. As I was finishing my walk, the sun was higher, along with the temperatures and it was good to retreat into the cool interior of the ship.

 

I always wondered how early people arrived in the Wajang Theatre for the Good Morning Amsterdam show that starts at 9:30 AM. Well at 8:45, I stopped by the theatre and it was already ½ full. But I guess you can sit in the Theatre and read for an hour, just as well as you can read anywhere else, so when you look at what other options there are at that time it is easier to understand. NOTE: The daily “On Location” guide is posted on the blog under the world cruise reference section. The guide for every day of the cruise is posted next to the date on the schedule when it occurred along with that days Main Dining Room Menu.

 

Gary Guthman was the guest this morning on Good Morning Amsterdam and boy could he talk and talk and talk. Gene asked him to tell us a little bit about himself and 15 minutes later he was just wrapping up his answer. Gene only had time for one more question before he had to wrap up so we would not bump into the 10 AM talk on shore excursion in the Queens Lounge. Gary currently lives in Warsaw with his Polish wife, who plays the Harp professionally. He provided some interesting insight into the challenges of translating English lyrics into Polish because finding words with similar meanings and the same number of syllables was difficult.

 

 

The Shore Excursion Manager lead the presentation on available HAL sponsored shore excursions from Indonesia thru Singapore. They provided useful information about how much walking was involved in various excursions by converting the distances into lengths of the ship. Even if you had no interest in the ships tours, these presentations provide some useful insight it what is available in any particular port and in many cases you may be able to book a similar excursion after arrival on your own. They emphasized that the traffic in Semarang and Jakarta was so horrendous that ship tours hire police escorts and will still often be 1 hour late returning.

 

We enjoyed the Mongolian BBQ (Stir Fry) that was set up today next to the Lido pool for lunch. They do a good job with this meal and we always look forward to it when we see it on the schedule.

 

 

Jacque, the Cellar Master, created an interesting event today: Speed wine tasting. For $7.50 they lined up 5 wine glasses in front of you that were filled with 3-4 ounces of various red and white wines. If you finished all 5 glasses in FIVE MINUTES, they would pour another 5 glasses. The rules were pretty loose and a few people teamed up to finish off the 5 glasses together and a couple people finished all 5 by themselves! There were probably about 25 people taking part and they had a blast. I have never seen a speed wine tasting prior to this.

 

Another good day on the Texas Hold’em table. The tournament starts with everyone getting $4000 in play chips. At one point after I lost an “All In” bet, I was down to only $300 in play chips. I went on to win the next 4 hands in a row. My luck continued and I ended up winning the tournament.

 

Prior to dinner, Emily Yates, one of HALS house singers, wowed the crowd with her Spotlight performance that starts at 7:30 pm and ends at 7:55 so both early and main seating can enjoy the show. Her high energy show ended with a rousing rendition of Proud Mary – Tina Turner style followed by her final number: The Whitney Houston arrangement of “I Will Always Love You” – by Dolly Parton. She received thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the full house.

 

 

For tonight’s dinner, most of the people at our table enjoyed the Monkfish, which was quite good. Our table had a great time trying to predict the Elton John play list for this evening’s performer.

 

Greg Andrew, billed as the Elton John Experience, opened his 10PM show with an exciting rendition of I’m Still Standing. He worked thru 10 other popular Elton John hits before he closed the show with “Crocodile Rock” We got about ½ the songs correct during our dinner guessing session and one person correctly predicted the encore.

 

Tomorrow is our last sea day before Darwin, our final Australian port.

 

More on the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com

[whogo]

Third...second was Paul Theroux book that was a pillow gift. The happy isles of Oceania

Theroux got off easy, just a book signing and a Q&A session.

 

Great live report and your blog is beautifully done. I appreciate all the time you put into entertaining me.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Good Morning!

 

Rain showers this AM.....

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Theroux got off easy, just a book signing and a Q&A session.

 

Great live report and your blog is beautifully done. I appreciate all the time you put into entertaining me.

 

 

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying the blog.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Morning brief by Great Barrier Reef Pilot

 

Interesting!

 

 

Good turnout at second Cruise Critic Meet and Greet

 

Edited February 19, 2016 by The-Inside-Cabin

[erewhon]

Enjoying your reports.

Does HAL provide cookies at the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet?

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Enjoying your reports.

Does HAL provide cookies at the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet?

 

 

Yes, cookies, pastries, tea and coffee ....very nice spread....free!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Day 45, Sailing towards Darwin, Australia

 

We passed thru a rain shower early this morning and the promenade deck and railings were still wet and misty as I stepped outside to start my walk around deck 3. Isolated thunderstorms could be seen in the distance along with an occasional bolt of lightning followed by a peel of thunder. Thunderstorms over the ocean are fairly unusual, but these storms may have originated over land and then moved out to sea. Fortunately, after their early morning appearance, we didn’t see any more storms the rest of the day.

 

It was hot and muggy early in the morning and would remain hot and muggy all day. The air-conditioning inside was working great so staying inside was an easy choice.

 

Good Morning Amsterdam started ½ hour early due to a scheduled crew training exercise and consequently was lightly attended as many people don’t read the daily On Location guide carefully where the change was published. Gene also mentioned this change after each show last night, but there are many people who don’t go to the shows so it is easy miss changes in start times to regularly scheduled events if you don’t check daily.

 

Greg Andrew, the previous evenings entertainer, was the guest on Good Morning Amsterdam this morning. Greg played classical piano for 20 years before he started his Elton John Experience show 7 years ago. He has never met Elton John, but did meet his band backstage last year at a show in London. We were surprised to learn that even Elton John’s band never sees Elton John other than on stage during performances.

 

 

Coastal Pilot Gerrit-Jan Hulsebos presented a lecture on life as a Great Barrier Reef Coastal Pilot. Every vessel carrying hazardous cargo or over 70 meters in length is required to use a pilot whenever transiting the Great Barrier Reef. Pilots were originally required by the owners of ships back in the 1800’s to protect their vessels from damage whenever transiting restricted waters. Today pilots are required by land based authorities to protect sensitive marine areas and harbor facilities. Gerrit-Jan Hulsebos used to work on cruise ships, but after getting married he elected to work as a pilot to avoid as much travel and time away from family.

 

Our Cruise Critic Roll Call group’s second Meet and Greet was held in the Crow’s Nest at 10:30. HAL provided coffee, tea, water and an assortment of pastries and set up a microphone with a speaker system. We didn’t invite any officers this time nor did any attend. Attendance was probably off by 50% from the first meeting, around 75 people, so we filled a corner of the Crow’s nest nicely. It is interesting how you are always seeing some people around the ship, usually those with similar interests, all the time. However, a few folks seem to vanish, only to reappear at the Meet and Greets. People do tend to get into routines and many times your paths may never cross, so it was nice to see some of the people again that we have met on the Roll Call. We welcomed the 3 new couples who joined us in Sydney and recognized 2 in our group who each won one of the three categories in the Photo Contest for the first segment; CruisinS and Cavediving. A member of the group also reminded folks to put a note on your door requesting no service during our upcoming Indonesian ports so our cabin stewards can have more time ashore visiting their families as many of them are from Indonesia. He went on to say that simply putting the privacy sign in the key slot was insufficient as they could not check off that room as complete, without a specific note, before their scheduled quitting time.

 

The Casino held the final round of the Blackjack tournament today at 1pm. The tournaments have a series of three qualifying rounds over three days. The top two people from each of the first two days will then join the top three from the last day to form the final group of seven players. Each player receives $1500 in Play Chips (Entry fee is $10) and the person with the most chips after seven hands wins. There is a little strategy toward the last hands – sorta like on “Final Jeopardy” – where the chip leader with a commanding lead will wager very little while those in 2nd place will bet all they have to try and win on the final hand. After my 7 hands I doubled my stack to $3000, which was enough to be on the leader board for a bit, but I was eventually knocked off. As a rule of thumb it usually requires you to end up with 3 times the initial stack of chips, $4500 in this case, to move on to the next round.

 

 

I didn’t win at Texas Hold’em today as I was beat out by someone with an Ace-9 against my Ace-7 and the flop was Ace-9-7. We both went “All In” and he ended up with the better hand.

 

Donna, the Culinary Arts Center host, held a class on tying Sarongs in the Wajang Theater this afternoon. People from the shops were conveniently in place if you wanted to purchase one as well. The class was fun with about 20 people attending.

 

The seven of us who eat at Table 52 decided to meet at 7pm in the Casino to try our luck at Roulette. Only one of us in our group has played before and we decided that playing our room numbers e.g. SIX TWO ZERO SIX (as three separate numbers) would be a great starting strategy. We went on to play graduation years, birthdays, black, red or whatever – Roulette is pretty simple and the Casino staff gave us a quick lesson before we started. The TWO in our room number won with the first spin! Judy and I each played different colors as you trade in your normal casino chips for special Roulette chips of different colors so the dealer can properly allocate winners once the numbers get crowded with many bets. We spent about 1 hour playing before dinner and everyone was pretty much staying even – but our table mate Rick put down a monster bet on red for the last spin. Unfortunately the ball ended up landing on a black number. Nevertheless a good time was had by all and it was the most action the roulette wheel saw all cruise.

 

We had some amazing Fish and Chips for dinner this evening. Five of us ordered them and we were all very impressed by the flakiness of the fish and the light batter – deep fried to perfection. Mass produced Fish and Chips usually end up with batter a little too thick with the fish overcooked so we were all pleasantly surprised to find these so delicious.

 

Patrick Murray, the ventriloquist, did a second show and was much better this time around. His act was funnier with his delivery much crisper.

 

 

Tomorrow we will be in Darwin from 10AM to 8PM.

 

More pictures on the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Currently in Darwin. We rented a car and found the Wild crocodiles!

 

 

Hot! Flies everywhere!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[erewhon]

Yes, cookies, pastries, tea and coffee ....very nice spread....free!

 

Thank you for your reply.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Back on the ship. Here is today's GPS track. Took taxi to Airport, rented car, drove 120 miles, taxi back. Cost for car, gas, taxis both ways $177 AUS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[roberts2005]

Maybe I missed it, but have you explained the voice and data plan you are using on your phone.

 

Is it U.S. based or did you get an Australian SIM card

 

Aim enjoying your posts

[cat shepard]

Thank you for all the info and pictures. I appreciate the details here and on your blog. I am taking my first cruise on HAL this year, and now have a preview of what awaits me.

 

I also appreciate your adventurous spirit. Something I need to exercise more?:rolleyes:

[snookymom]

Your table sounds like a lot of fun. We always seem to get tablemates who don't talk::::rolleyes:

[Lynda S]

Pete, I remember you saying something at the beginning about being an almost-4-star. Will the segments count individually during the cruise - for example will you become a 4 star at some point during the cruise? We are thinking of the WC for our next cruise, we are 3 star as well & are wondering if we can reap the benefits of being a 4 star at some point during the cruise.

 

Also, do they have an ongoing 'jigsaw' on the WC like they do on other cruises? I love to sit and piece them together while at sea!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Pete, I remember you saying something at the beginning about being an almost-4-star. Will the segments count individually during the cruise - for example will you become a 4 star at some point during the cruise? We are thinking of the WC for our next cruise, we are 3 star as well & are wondering if we can reap the benefits of being a 4 star at some point during the cruise.

 

Also, do they have an ongoing 'jigsaw' on the WC like they do on other cruises? I love to sit and piece them together while at sea!

 

They will upgrade you during the cruise on a Grand Voyage. I will get upgraded on Day 51. Suggest you verify your date with the Mariner Society in Seattle to have them confirm the date.

 

I will check on jig saw puzzles. Haven't noticed one, but then I haven't been looking either.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Your table sounds like a lot of fun. We always seem to get tablemates who don't talk::::rolleyes:

 

We have been very fortunate. We managed to build half our table based on the cruise critic roll call participation.. a good place to start..

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Maybe I missed it, but have you explained the voice and data plan you are using on your phone.

 

Is it U.S. based or did you get an Australian SIM card

 

Aim enjoying your posts

 

I have an IPhone using ATT. I got the ATT International Passport 300MB per month plan. Works great. My phone is still locked to ATT so I couldn't get an Australian SIM....they are an option since we spent so much time here in Australia

[roberts2005]

I have an IPhone using ATT. I got the ATT International Passport 300MB per month plan. Works great. My phone is still locked to ATT so I couldn't get an Australian SIM....they are an option since we spent so much time here in Australia

 

Thanks. Are you using the phone as a hotspot for your iPad to save ship board minutes?