Live from the Amsterdam ...

[RuthC]

what's to do so many sea days?

Funny' date=' I'm a veteran of many cruises longer than 30 days, and I never have enough time to do everything I want to do on sea days. I'm so busy with activities that I don't find time to just sit and enjoy the sea. Last 35-day cruise I never even made it into the hot tub or pool. :eek: [/color']

[dot73]

I am booked on this itinerary for 2007 and am looking forward to all the sea days (16 I think). I've never been on a cruise longer than two weeks. Living in a large city and commuting to a stressful job every day, I am constantly on the go and always surrounded by people (not always nice people either). What I love about sea days is to be able to read until wee hours of the morning if I feel like it, sleep until noon, spend the day doing whatever I feel like, taking a late afternoon nap, and then having a very leisurely dinner. The idea of not having to rush for anything is pure pleasure for me. I've never been on holidays before for a whole month and I can't wait. People always ask why I love cruising so much. I always answer that it's probably the last "civilized" way of travelling, once, of course, you get to the ship. I'm looking forward to hearing how people spent their sea days on this cruise.

 

One year, 2 days, and seven hours to go!!!!

[FlorenceItaly]

What I love about sea days is to be able to read until wee hours of the morning if I feel like it, sleep until noon, spend the day doing whatever I feel like, taking a late afternoon nap, and then having a very leisurely dinner. The idea of not having to rush for anything is pure pleasure for me.

 

This sounds heavenly :).

 

Marie

[FlorenceItaly]

Rita didn't see this thread previously, so thought she may like to read it. Will bump it up in case she pops in :).

 

Marie

[FlorenceItaly]

Thinking of you and hoping you are having a lovely time. We are anxious to hear all about your journey.

 

Marie

[blue whale]

Hello, We are traveling on Amsterdam next year, so it is a pleasure to learn how your voyage is progressing. We look forward to hearing more.

[EmJakeBubbie]

these gals are having So Much Fun, they've got TWO threads going:D Home soon!

[FlorenceItaly]

Wishing you a wonderful voyage home.

 

 

Marie

[kryos]

I am booked on this itinerary for 2007 and am looking forward to all the sea days (16 I think). I've never been on a cruise longer than two weeks. Living in a large city and commuting to a stressful job every day, I am constantly on the go and always surrounded by people (not always nice people either). What I love about sea days is to be able to read until wee hours of the morning if I feel like it, sleep until noon, spend the day doing whatever I feel like, taking a late afternoon nap, and then having a very leisurely dinner. The idea of not having to rush for anything is pure pleasure for me. I've never been on holidays before for a whole month and I can't wait. People always ask why I love cruising so much. I always answer that it's probably the last "civilized" way of travelling, once, of course, you get to the ship. I'm looking forward to hearing how people spent their sea days on this cruise.

 

One year, 2 days, and seven hours to go!!!!

I've just located this thread ... now that I am home. Sorry. :(

 

Exactly how I felt about the sea days. The way this itinerary works is not ideal, but there's nothing that can be done about it. The sea days are "lumped" together, as are port days. Some people were grumbling about all the days at sea, and becoming bored ... but not me. I love sea days. I get fatigued after five or six days in port, and the prospect of a bunch of days at sea is so welcome for me. I have no problem with boredom, even if I actually don't participate in a lot of activities aboard ship. I can sleep until 8:00 (a luxury), go to services, have a nice breakfast before the Lido shuts down breakfast service, attend a lecture, read for a bit, do some more afternoon activities (I usually don't eat lunch), and then perhaps get into a conversation with someone in one of the lounges. By then, it's time for afternoon nap, after tea on some afternoons.

 

I could take all the sea days that you can throw at me.

 

But some people are different, and they found themselves becoming restless after three or so of them in a row.

 

If you like to relax, as well as see some wonderful ports, you will absolutely love this itinerary. While a lot of folks said this was a one-time itinerary for them, I can well see myself doing it again sometime in the future ... unfortunately, though, the distant future. :(

 

Blue skies!

 

--rita

[kryos]

Free rum punch at a sail away party??[/b]

Yep! Free.

 

Lots of good music too.

 

I was on the cell phone with dad while the music was playing and they were playing that Navy theme song at the time ... "Anchors Away" I think it's called. Dad always says that he won't cruise because he spent enough time on the ship while in the Navy. He couldn't understand why a cruise ship would be playing the Navy theme song. I told dad that true, a cruise ship is nothing like a Navy ship. I asked him ... "did you get Midnight Buffets while in the Navy?" His response? "Midnight Buffet? Hell, no. All we had were midnight bombings. :(

 

I think cruising is much more fun. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[FlorenceItaly]

I love sea days. I get fatigued after five or six days in port, and the prospect of a bunch of days at sea is so welcome for me. I have no problem with boredom, even if I actually don't participate in a lot of activities aboard ship. I can sleep until 8:00 (a luxury), go to services, have a nice breakfast before the Lido shuts down breakfast service, attend a lecture, read for a bit, do some more afternoon activities (I usually don't eat lunch), and then perhaps get into a conversation with someone in one of the lounges. By then, it's time for afternoon nap, after tea on some afternoons.

 

 

If you like to relax, as well as see some wonderful ports, you will absolutely love this itinerary. While a lot of folks said this was a one-time itinerary for them, I can well see myself doing it again sometime in the future ... unfortunately, though, the distant future. :(

 

Blue skies!

 

--rita

 

Thanks Rita. The above describes me perfectly, and I could easily picture myself in the same routine as you :).

I cut and pasted the following from an earlier post to you. Are they offering any "deals" on internet, since it is such a long itinerary or is it the standard rate offered on the other ships? Also, what about laundry packages? Are they offering the $12 per bag? Thanks.

 

Marie

[kryos]

There are two people on board with you that we think are some of the BEST in HAL. Just wanted to share them with you in case you see them around as I know you would love them too. Jan and Kate - We met them several yrs ago on Ryndam and now they sail on the Amsterdam. Jan works aound the lido and Kate will be in one of the lounges. They actually got married last February. Kate is normally the emcee of the Phillipino cruise show.

Can't recall meeting Jan, but Kate was a staple of my cruise. Always a smiling face and just a joy to chat with. I miss her already. She's one of the people who make cruising special. You just don't meet someone like that on land ... at least not in my world. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I hope you have a great cruise aboard the Amsterdam-I am looking forward to hearing many more updates! The Amsterdam will be my home this year from April-Oct, so I'm very interested in all things having to do with this ship! My husband and I previously worked on the Veendam from Nov04-Jun05, and we are only a month away from starting rehearsals for the Amsterdam. We work as the lead female and male singers in the production cast. Right now, our very good friend Mat is the lead male singer in the cast-he is incredibly talented, so I encourage you to attend their shows throughout your cruise! If you ever get the chance, please tell him that Michael & Erin say hello and we're looking forward to seeing him in April!

I recall Matt ... yes, he is definitely very talented ... an excellent singer. There was another male lead singer too ... a blonde guy ... really nice looking. Unfortunately, his name escapes me at the moment. But he and one of the female leads went skydiving in Oahu with me. In fact, this blonde guy is on my video since he was sitting right next to me with his tandem instructor on the plane. We also had the sound engineer along on the trip, as well as Rene, the chef from the Pinnacle Grill, and Reme, the DJ ... as well as a few others. It was clearly the best "shore excursion" of the trip. :)

 

I most certainly did attend the production shows and enjoyed them tremendously ... especially the "Dancing Fools" one. That was particularly great. I only missed the last one because they ran it early ... before second seating dinner ... and I missed it because I didn't realize it was gonna be early that night.

 

You'll love the Amsterdam ... it is truly an elegant ship, peopled by a great staff and crew. I'm jealous that you will get to call it home for such a long time. Enjoy!

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Be sure to meet Sonny, in the Lido. He'll always remember your name. At lunch, we were always greated with, "Welcome to my restaurant." If you didn't want to take the time to read the posted menu, he'd be able to tell you all that was there. Amazing memory!:)

Sonny was the highlight of my morning each day. He would always greet me by name and his smiling face was like a ray of sunshine.

 

God, how I miss those mornings jaunts to the Lido. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

So nice to read about your cruise! Sounds like your having a wonderful time! Thanks for the tip on how to get a ships officers to help you with your life jacket (wink wink)

And since most of the (male) officers tend to be cute ... being all thumbs with the lifejacket is actually a good thing. :) To be honest, I don't think I've yet tied one properly. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

hehehe Rita, I had knots in my tummy while you were describing your jump, I would love to see pictures when you return, you are so brave in my eyes, I hard like flying let alone jumping out of a plane eeeks!

Believe me, I hate flying too. My idea of the perfect flight is to go up to 15,000 feet, open the door, and get the h*ll out. :) Unfortunately, the crews on commercial airliners don't want to hear that. :)

 

Did have some excitement on the flight back to Philly though. We hit some major turbulance ... to the point where the plane was dropping and going back up. It got so bad that they had to suspend beverage service at one point and the captain made everyone stay in their seats with seatbelts fastened.

 

A lot of passengers were going white knuckled for a while there, but I was laughing and loving every minute of it. Call me wierd, but I always prefer my rides wild. :)

 

As for skydiving pics, I'm gonna see if I can use the high speed scanner at work this weekend and will scan some jpegs of my stills. Yes, they are awesome. Then I'll post a few for ya. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Are they offering any "deals" on internet, since it is such a long itinerary or is it the standard rate offered on the other ships? Also, what about laundry packages? Are they offering the $12 per bag? Thanks :).

 

Marie

They didn't have $12 a bag on this cruise, but rather $19. However, the bag is much bigger. I was able to squeeze something like 10 tee-shirts, two pairs of jogging pants, two pairs of sweat pants, and four Aloha shirts into the bag. Well worth $19 bucks.

 

The internet did have time plans ... 250 minutes for $100 and 100 minutes for $50, as well as some smaller plans. Towards the end of the cruise, they offered some deals for smaller plans ... like 30 minutes, I think for $12 (not sure about that because I didn't buy a smaller plan at the end of the cruise ... but the deals were pretty good and the minutes could be used right up until disembarkation).

 

I bought the 250 minute plan on the first day of the cruise. They also threw in an extra 20 minutes, bringing the time up to close to five hours of internet time. But, I found that with our position on many of the sea days, either we would lose internet entirely, or the service would become so slow as to make it not a very good deal at all. Once we passed the equator, the service slowed to a snail's pace and I gave up on CruiseCritic. It was taking about 15 to 20 minutes just to get access to the boards.

 

But for email it was adequate.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[FlorenceItaly]

Will you share with me a bit about your packing. Did you pack for one week or two weeks, and then send out? Would love for you to share your opinion about the clothing situation, and what you wish you would have done differently, if anything. Also, how many formal and informal nights? Thanks.

 

Marie

[kryos]

I hope when you get back, I can pick your brain about certain excursions. I have never been to Hawaii and I will definitely be taking the whale watching excursion. Keep these posts coming. :) :)

Ask away and I'll try to help.

 

By the way, I didn't do the whale watching excursion ... rather, it was a snorkling with wild dolphins excursion with the Pacific Whale Foundation. You don't actually snorkle with the dolphins, but are snorkling in the general area of their territory. We actually saw very few dolphins, but did have some wonderful whale sightings before our actual snorkling adventure. The whales were breaching within about 40-feet of the boat ... awesome! Once snorkling, we saw loads of stingrays and turtles, and the Pacific Whale people were in the water with us, guiding us and helping us to spot turtles and other neat marine life.

 

This excursion was one of the highlights of my trip, and I would certainly do it again in a heartbeat when I get back to the islands. While I did a couple of other snorkle excursions as well, this one was the best because it took place in Maui, and also because the folks running the trip were so knowledgeable and passionate about marine life and how it should be protected.

 

This is definitely one you will want to consider on your Rydam trip next year.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Rita,

 

Hi there!!! I hope you had a wonderful birthday! I have been following your posts. It sounds like you are having a fabulous time. I hope the rest of the cruise is just as great. And your Hawaii posts made me think of our wonderful Island Princess cruise last April.

 

Here is to your "special" birthday!!

Take care.

Jamie

Hey, Lady! I didn't realize you were following these posts on the HAL board.

 

Email me kry.os@verizon.net ... we've gotta plan our next cruise together!

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[spingal]

Hey, Lady! I didn't realize you were following these posts on the HAL board.

 

Email me kry.os@verizon.net ... we've gotta plan our next cruise together!

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

Rita,

 

Hi there!!! I remembered your big trip and had to follow your HAL posts while you were gone. As always, I love reading your threads!!!

 

It sounds like you had an amazing time! Next year I am on the Sapphire Princess for 29 nights........can't wait. :D :D

 

I will email you!

 

Take care.

Jamie

[kryos]

It sounds like you had an amazing time! Next year I am on the Sapphire Princess for 29 nights........can't wait. :D :D

I just checked your itinerary for that trip, and God how I would love to do it. Only problem is that physically there is no way I could possibly fly such a far distance. All kidding aside, it would kill me being wedged into a coach seat for that many hours, and a first class seat would be cost prohibitive. How do you do it?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[spingal]

I just checked your itinerary for that trip, and God how I would love to do it. Only problem is that physically there is no way I could possibly fly such a far distance. All kidding aside, it would kill me being wedged into a coach seat for that many hours, and a first class seat would be cost prohibitive. How do you do it?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

We will probably bite the bullet and pay for business class seats. It is only one way and we will be leaving from LA or San Diego so it is a non-stop flight and is shorter than flying from the East coast. And the flight is on the way to the cruise........when we get back we only have to drive home to north San Diego!!

[spingal]

I just checked your itinerary for that trip, and God how I would love to do it. Only problem is that physically there is no way I could possibly fly such a far distance. All kidding aside, it would kill me being wedged into a coach seat for that many hours, and a first class seat would be cost prohibitive. How do you do it?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

P.S. It is amazing how times flies -- I can remember talking on your HAL trip when we went to Hawaii and it seemed so far away. Before I know it, April 2007 will be here too.

[dot73]

Rita, thanks for the info on the whale watching in Hawaii. That's the excursion I was looking at in Maui. I've been on a few whale watching excursions, but have never seen one breach yet. Maybe this trip will be lucky for me. This cruise will be a 50th birthday present to myself (even though my birthday isn't until June 2007). I was going to do something like this when I retired, but why wait. I was lucky enough to get five weeks off from work. As I start researching this trip more fully, I will probably have a lot of questions for you.