'Twas the Cruise During Christmas - Zuiderdam 2018

[POA1]

 

 

The Aft Pool area on Deck 9 underwent a lengthening when the additional aft cabins were added in dry dock a few years ago. You used to be able to look down onto the aft balconies on Deck 8 because they extended out, uncovered for the most part. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the old deck plan diagrams showed chairs, while the new ones do  not.  (Clearly the sign of cut backs. )

 

The Aft Pool Area in 2003:

 

 

 

 

The Aft Pool Now:

 

 

The smoking covered smoking area by the Sea View Bar is new.

 

 

[Reiki1]

Do you smell the smoke from the smoking area in your aft facing cabana? Which cabanas do you feel are the best? Love your travelogue as I'm going on this ship for my first HAL cruise in Feb. Are the seas rough? Thank you so much!

[POA1]

 

 

 

The Crow's Nest in 2003:

 

Before the addition of the Music Walk, the Crow's Nest was a pretty hopping bar late into the night. The other late night bar was in the disco, which is now the Gallery Bar.  Note the dance floor, where you could cut the rug to the late, great HAL Cats.

 

 

 

 

Us in the Crow's Nest with our friend Tom, being himself.

 

 

The Crow's Nest/Explorations Cafe/EXC in  2018:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The side sitting area to port of the bar as you enter, has been converted to the EXC lecture room. It used to be bar seating.

 

 

There are interactive screens in the EXC area on the starboard side of the Crow's Nest/Explorations Cafe/EXC/Snoozing Lounge.  There's also a "Virtual Bridge." It's so virtual that it's not even working on this cruise. (Needless to say, our vacation is RUINED.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[POA1]

9 minutes ago, Reiki1 said:

Do you smell the smoke from the smoking area in your aft facing cabana? Which cabanas do you feel are the best? Love your travelogue as I'm going on this ship for my first HAL cruise in Feb. Are the seas rough? Thank you so much!

 

The cabanas are forward and two decks above the cabana. We're separated by the Lido Pool/Magnadome Sliding Roof (named Kevin), the Lido Restaurant and two full decks. You can't hear the Lido pool, let alone smell smoke from the aft pool smoking area, so no worries there.  We like the aft facing cabanas as opposed to the side ones. They have better ventilation. However, better ventilation translates into windy-as-heck sometimes.

[POA1]

PoohbyNet is up and running in the cabana area. Michelle started her day with a tall cappuccino from the Explorations Cafe.  .We ordered breakfast from our cabana stewards.  We both opted for the Express Breakfast which is scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast.  DW decided to try a breakfast recommendation from some chef friends of ours: Steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar, raisins and whiskey. I popped down to the Crow's Nest and picked up Buffalo Trace, neat.  I used my card, so if I hit my 15 limit today, it's her fault. I'm not sure I can fully get behind the oatmeal, add liquor thing. It's not the most amazing breakfast item ever, but it's pretty good.

 

The cabanas are full today. There are a number of day rentals. Michelle and I have taken to calling them "summer people." (This will make sense to coastal New Englanders, especially Mainers.)

[POA1]

@richwmn - Ramil, he head bartender found me. He says hello. I thought he might be here to congratulate us on our drinking prowess, but he was looking for me on your recommendation.

[momatibm]

7 minutes ago, POA1 said:

PoohbyNet is up and running in the cabana area. Michelle started her day with a tall cappuccino from the Explorations Cafe.  .We ordered breakfast from our cabana stewards.  We both opted for the Express Breakfast which is scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast.  DW decided to try a breakfast recommendation from some chef friends of ours: Steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar, raisins and whiskey. I popped down to the Crow's Nest and picked up Buffalo Trace, neat.  I used my card, so if I hit my 15 limit today, it's her fault. I'm not sure I can fully get behind the oatmeal, add liquor thing. It's not the most amazing breakfast item ever, but it's pretty good.

 

The cabanas are full today. There are a number of day rentals. Michelle and I have taken to calling them "summer people." (This will make sense to coastal New Englanders, especially Mainers.)

In the south we call them "snow birds" -- just ours is in Jan, Feb, Mar - vice  June, July, Aug.

[POA1]

As expected, the Internet is a little slower today.  I supposed it's because everyone's on board and trying to catch up.

 

The cabana managers are actively patrolling to catch party crashers. We don't seem to have as many people wandering through as we did on the Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam - probably because we're more out of the way here.You have to climb an extra set of stairs or take the special cabana elevator to get here. Dedicated celebrity autograph hounds are willing to make the effort on the off chance that they'll get to meet Poohby Joe, but the general public largely doesn't know about this place

 

[POA1]

11 minutes ago, momatibm said:

In the south we call them "snow birds" -- just ours is in Jan, Feb, Mar - vice  June, July, Aug.

 

We live in Fort Lauderdale now, so we're familiar with the term. I went with Summer People better captures the disdain. There's a hierarchy in Maine. You've got your Summer People. Then comes your Regular Summer People, which means you come back year after year. Then you have "From Away" which means you weren't born there. At the top of the hierarchy are Native Mainers.

Edited December 24, 2018 by POA1

[POA1]

I'm not sure how much help our menus are going to be. They're quite a bit different than a normal sailing's. For example: There is no lobster on the second Gala Night. (No need to panic. It got moved to Christmas Day.) And, other than a few Chef Rudi dishes, there has been no sight of the Culinary Council on the menus. DW is usually not a fan of the last night's Culinary Council menu, so she's thrilled.  Odds are that the menus won't be posted until the cruise is over and we're back at Institute HQ. Apologies for that.

[momatibm]

42 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

We live in Fort Lauderdale now, so we're familiar with the term. I went with Summer People better captures the disdain. There's a hierarchy in Maine. You've got your Summer People. Then comes your Regular Summer People, which means you come back year after year. Then you have "From Away" which means you weren't born there. At the top of the hierarchy are Native Mainers.

There is a hierachy here also -- the 'snow birds' and 'the winter colony' 

[Copper10-8]

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

 

The Aft Pool area on Deck 9 underwent a lengthening when the additional aft cabins were added in dry dock a few years ago. You used to be able to look down onto the aft balconies on Deck 8 because they extended out, uncovered for the most part. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the old deck plan diagrams showed chairs, while the new ones do  not.  (Clearly the sign of cut backs. )

 

What the stern looked like from above prior to the addition of the new block of thirty four prefabricated cabins. The lounge chairs (and everything else loose) are always removed in the case of an aerial medevac

[POA1]

Just made the rounds to grab some more comparison photos for the Wayback Machine posts. I also had to stop by the Pinnacle Grill to confirm our 5:30 PM caviar snack. In addition, I needed to straighten out our Explore 4 PG dinners. They didn't credit them. I had prepaid for all three of us so that I'd get our desired time slot. The PG manager is going to manually credit off our two comp'd dinners.  In case anyone is wondering, this was no problem at all.

 

I dropped by the Captain's Talk in the main showroom, just in time to hear someone ask why they can't get fast Internet on the ship. It's a good thing I was not the one answering. The captain was much, much nicer.

 

The pipe was plenty fast until late this morning. I'll see if things speed up later so I can post some more photos. Not sure how Santa will feel about me "working" late into the night. He is arriving at a very civilized 10:30 AM tomorrow. Even Miss "I'm on vacation and I'm not getting up at the butt crack of dawn" Michelle is okay with 10:30.  We allegedly have 60 kids on this sailing. I'm not sure where they're storing them because we've only seen a handful or two. Maybe they're shackled in the bowls of the vessel? Of course having late, fixed seating pretty much guarantees an adult environment.

[POA1]

It's times like these when you could really use Tapatalk or the CC app. I wish these people would get the heck off my Internet. I half tempted to upgrade to the highest tier for the last two days. It's only $10 ($5/day) but I bet it won't change anything. 

 

@65 Gator- There was either dark rye or pump in the Lido this afternoon. I would have grabbed a piece and bitten into it, but that's kind of rude - even if done in the name of research.

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, POA1 said:

It's times like these when you could really use Tapatalk or the CC app. I wish these people would get the heck off my Internet. I half tempted to upgrade to the highest tier for the last two days. It's only $10 ($5/day) but I bet it won't change anything. 

 

 

Brian, I had the premier package at the beginning on the Westerdam and switched to the medium package.  I found no difference at all as far a slowness/speed.  But, I was able to use tapatalk at the time 😉 

 

With the new CC forum, I'm not sure if there would be a difference or not.

[65 Gator]

22 minutes ago, POA1 said:

There was either dark rye or pump in the Lido this afternoon. I would have grabbed a piece and bitten into it, but that's kind of rude - even if done in the name of research.

Thanks for the research...  Last cruise, when I asked for pumpernickel, they brought Spa Bread and said that is their version of rye and were told to call it that by the Culinary Ops Manager.  Glad to see that sanity has returned.  

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise...

[POA1]

Just now, 65 Gator said:

Thanks for the research...  Last cruise, when I asked for pumpernickel, they brought Spa Bread and said that is their version of rye and were told to call it that by the Culinary Ops Manager.  Glad to see that sanity has returned.  

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise...

 

They are doing limited made to order sandwiches in between the pre-made ones and the carvery. It's the first time I've noticed it, but it could have been here all week. We usually have lunch in the cabana because the guys are sad when we don't. 

 

Michelle's second corsage is coming this afternoon. It's red roses. Since tomorrow is also a festive meal, she can get double use of it. When we were waiting for the MDR to open on the first gala night, a woman noticed Michelle's flowers and said, "I haven't seen a corsage since high school prom." in a snooty, condescending way. I fired back with, "Perhaps she's just more loved." M would have gone with, "Because he likes me better, b1tch," had we been a few drinks deeper into the night. 

[NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope]

Loved your "summer people" reference. I live in a Mid-Atlantic coastal community that has a similar pecking order. True disdain is reserved for the "DFD's ", those that are "down for the day". Feel free to use that (or maybe "UFD's, up for the day"?) especially if they get robes, slippers and misters! Thanks for sharing your fun and informative review. I probably account for 100 views. Enjoy your holiday!

 

[POA1]

57 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Brian, I had the premier package at the beginning on the Westerdam and switched to the medium package.  I found no difference at all as far a slowness/speed.  But, I was able to use tapatalk at the time 😉 

 

With the new CC forum, I'm not sure if there would be a difference or not.

 

Tapatalk wouldn't have all the overhead that the new CC does.  Between the ads and double-loading the page to "remember" your login, it's a lot of data.  Thanks for the tip on the speeds between plans. You just saved me $5.

[wdw1972]

13 hours ago, POA1 said:

The Main Stage comedian, Brian Bradley was hilarious. (Thanks @wdw1972) His show started a little slow, but finished solid, with plenty of laugh out loud moments. He has very strong improv instincts. His show had me in stitches. (See my previous post about smiling. I'm not an easy laugh.)

***************

Glad to hear you enjoyed Brian's show - he is excellent at improv.  He's done quite a bit of tv (including a part on Seinfeld), and did standup in NY & LA before I met him.  He spent a number of years working at Disney's improv club at Pleasure Island, where he pretty consistently pushed the Disney boundaries 😉  

Sue/WDW1972

[kazu]

4 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

Tapatalk wouldn't have all the overhead that the new CC does.  Between the ads and double-loading the page to "remember" your login, it's a lot of data.  Thanks for the tip on the speeds between plans. You just saved me $5.

 

I have no experience with the CC forum on ship internet yet but I did try a few things and I saw no difference between premium and the medium level.

 

I'm no techie as you know.  I just wait for pages to load and curse softly under my breath 😉 . I'm sure you never do that 😉. 

Merry Christmas to you, Michelle & Poohyby

[POA1]

5 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

Glad to hear you enjoyed Brian's show - he is excellent at improv.  He's done quite a bit of tv (including a part on Seinfeld), and did standup in NY & LA before I met him.  He spent a number of years working at Disney's improv club at Pleasure Island, where he pretty consistently pushed the Disney boundaries 😉 

 

His show started a little slow, but about 12 minutes in, I was laughing out loud.  His improv was great. There was a family from Alabama who he riffed with. One of the performers from Island Magic was sitting behind us and at one point, he honestly doubled over in laughter. Between his laughing and Michelle's, I was dying. Michelle and I were wondering if he worked at Pleasure Island's Comedy Warehouse.  Now we know. Question: Are you an original cast member? I see the 1972 in your CC user name.

[Copper10-8]

5 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

His show started a little slow, but about 12 minutes in, I was laughing out loud.  His improv was great. There was a family from Alabama who he riffed with. One of the performers from Island Magic was sitting behind us and at one point, he honestly doubled over in laughter. Between his laughing and Michelle's, I was dying. Michelle and I were wondering if he worked at Pleasure Island's Comedy Warehouse.  Now we know. Question: Are you an original cast member? I see the 1972 in your CC user name.

 

You've got the Trini's from Island Magic on Zuidy? Awesome!  If you happen to run into Dereck (the big guy) and/or Opal, please tell them I said hi, Thank You! Derick can usually be found listening to the BB King's at night and/or having lunch/dinner in the Lido in what's known by the crew as the "fish bowl" (the central area adjacent Canaletto and the fwd beverage station)

 

[POA1]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

You've got the Trini's from Island Magic on Zuidy? Awesome!  If you happen to run into Dereck (the big guy) and/or Opal, please tell them I said hi, Thank You! Derick can usually be found listening to the BB King's at night and/or having lunch/dinner in the Lido in what's known by the crew as the "fish bowl" (the central area adjacent Canaletto and the fwd beverage station)

 

Will do. Derek was the one sitting behind us last night. We had them on the Nieuw Amsterdam a few years ago. 

[RuthC]

5 hours ago, POA1 said:

When we were waiting for the MDR to open on the first gala night, a woman noticed Michelle's flowers and said, "I haven't seen a corsage since high school prom." in a snooty, condescending way. I fired back with, "Perhaps she's just more loved."

Perfect.
Some people don't realize that just because you think of something to say, doesn't mean you have to say it.