Pete and Judy's 2020 World Cruise on the ms Amsterdam, Holland America Line

[Kindergirl]

So glad you are home safely. Thanks again for everything. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

PIANO BAR "FOR GOOD"

Australian vocalist and harpist, Alana Conway, was a guest entertainer on the ms Amsterdam during our recent world cruise in March 2020. She was an amazing performer and we enjoyed her shows very much.

Much to our delight, we happened by the Piano Bar one evening and caught Alana teaming up with Piano Bar Entertainer Anna McBryan to sing "For Good:" from the musical "Wicked"

 

 

TENNESSEE WALTZ

A few days later, Alana was the guest during the morning talk show on the ms Amsterdam "Coffee Chat". We learned that when she was auditioning for for "Australia's Got Talent" she sang the Tennessee Waltz. Here is a video of her "Coffee Chat" Performance.

 

 

Australia's Got Talent

Here is her performance of "Unchained Melody" back in 2010 on Australia's Got Talent

 

 

[ger_77]

3 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

PIANO BAR "FOR GOOD"Australian vocalist and harpist, Alana Conway, was a guest entertainer on the ms Amsterdam during our recent worldcruise in March 2020. She was an amazing performer and we enjoyed her shows very much.

 

Much to our delight, we happened by the Piano Bar one evening and caught Alana teaming up with Piano Bar Entertainer Anna McBryan to sing "For Good:" from the musical "Wicked"

 

 

 

TENNESSEE WALTZ

 

A few days later, Alana was the guest during the morning talk show on the ms Amsterdam "Coffee Chat". We learned that when she was auditioning for for "Australia's Got Talent" she sang the Tennessee Waltz. Here is a video of her "Coffee Chat" Performance.

 

 

 

 

Australia's Got Talent

 

Here is her performance of "Unchained Melody" back in 2010 on Australia's Got Talent

 

 

What a beautiful voice; you were fortunate to have her on your ship as an entertainer!

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

4 minute video from our 9 Jan 2020 port visit to Saint Lucia.   If you are looking for a different excursion in St Lucia, this is a fun one!

 

 

 

[Storylady]

Pete and Judy,

 

Thanks for all the hard-work you did on your wonderful blog. Since we were on the cruise with you both, we didn’t have time to read it. But now that we are home, I am starting from the beginning and reliving the cruise through your eyes as we didn’t take the same tours, participate in the same activities onboard or eat at the same time as you two did. Loved your maps as I always use maps when we post our photos on Facebook after the cruise is over.  I love your bold captioned headings, the amazing photos and clear text. First class job.

 

We are still virus free at home in Orange County. We hope and pray that you both are too!🙏🙏🙏🙏

 

We enjoyed sailing with you both and hope to meet you on a future HAL World Cruise. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
 

 

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Thanks for your kind words. We are planning on going on 2022

 

We are fine here in Imperial Beach

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I will be continuing my posts where I left off March 5th.   A little diversion from all the bad news...

 

Day 61, Captains Gala Dinner, March 5th

I will be picking up my blog where I left off, back on March 5^th.  My last regular post was over a month ago on March 4^th with a report of our visit to The Bay of Islands.  After I finish the missing days, between March 5^th and March 25, I will re-date everything so they will appear in the correct order when anyone comes back to this cruise in the future.

At Sea, enroute to Sydney, Australia

It was nice to have some sea days after 3 straight days in port.  

NOTE: For anyone contemplating a World Cruise, or cruising in general, you must enjoy the time you have at sea, otherwise you are probably better off with a land only vacation.  There are many repeat World Cruisers on the Amsterdam where the real destination is the ship itself and the other passengers they have come to know over the years.  In many respects the Amsterdam is their winter home.

COFFEE CHAT

I started my day as always by attending the Coffee Chat in the Explorers Lounge.  Today’s guests were “The Alley Cats”, the A cappella group that had performed before we our port call in Auckland. 

Coffee Chat is at 9:30 AM, and at 9:25 Hamish will come over the ship's public address system and announces the name of today’s guest followed by a rundown of the day's activities.  There was a time change last night, but instead of Hamish simply making note of this fact, he had the Alley Cats do a sing song version, in perfect harmony.  

Another running joke at the Coffee Chats is that guest entertainers are night owls who often tend to sleep in. Many of them consider the 9:30 AM Coffee Chat as ridiculously early.  To keep this gag going, the four Alley Cats appeared wearing Holland America bathrobes. 

 

Another running joke at the Coffee Chats is that guest entertainers are night owls who often tend to sleep in. Many of them consider the 9:30 AM Coffee Chat as ridiculously early.  To keep this gag going, the four Alley Cats appeared wearing Holland America bathrobes. 

 

Armando, Josh, Dennis, Gregory

 

Armando, leader, and creator, of the Alley Cats, explained that he has 2 and sometimes 3 groups of Alley Cats on tour at any one time.  

CRUISE CRITIC MEET AND GREET

Our Cruise Critic Roll Call group held the 3^rd Meet and Greet of the cruise in the Crow’s Nest with about 40 people in attendance.  Kathi made a few announcements including the upcoming Slot Pull.  We had a few new people join us in Auckland and they introduced themselves.

 

 

Roll Call Leader Kathi (aka Scrapnana)

 

 

Meet and Greet #3

 

SCHEDULE CHANGE – TAKE 2

 

The big news today was the second major schedule change.  Routine announcements during the day are never broadcast into the cabins, so when the Captain tells us that he needs to switch over to the circuit that broadcasts everywhere, we know that the news will be BIG.  

He informed us that India would not allow the ship to get a group visa, Sri Lanka and other ports were closing to cruise ships so we would sail around Australia, adding 4 more Australian Ports after Darwin:  Broome, Exmouth, Geraldton and finally Fremantle (Perth) arriving there on the 24^th.  After Perth we would head over to Reunion Island and then pick up the rest of the original itinerary.

Most everyone was pleased with this change as Australia is always popular and most people never get a chance to visit the far-flung cities of Western Australia.

 

NOTE: While I know the future now as I write this on 10 April 2020 back home in Imperial Beach, at the time, many of us speculated that  Fremantle might be our last port.  We were hoping that maybe we might end up taking a straight shot across to Cape Town and then on to Fort Lauderdale.  

CAPTAINS SPECIAL GALA DINNER

Tonight was a Gala Night, and not just any Gala night, but the Captain's Special Gala night that was going to be the substitute for the Captain's Dinners that used to be held in the Pinnacle Grill for guests that that were doing the full World Cruise.  On earlier World Cruises, the guests who were on for the entire cruise, were hosted by the Captain in the Pinnacle Grill.  I suspect this tradition was started when there were fewer guests that did the whole World Cruise.  Now there are so many staying on board for the entire World Cruise, the Pinnacle Grill is booked for numerous Captain's Dinners over the length of the cruise. The Captain and his Officers were attending these dinners several times a week and those evenings the Pinnacle Grill was not available for other diners who would be paying the surcharge for their meal.   

 

SEATING CONFUSION

 

A few weeks ago, everyone was requested to RSVP for tonight’s dinner with their requested seating – early or late.  Dining Room Maître D, Presty, assigned tables a few days ago and everyone who said they were going to attend received a confirmation card with their time and table assignment.  People on fixed seating or with standing “anytime” reservations, would be assigned to their normal tables and times.  People on fixed seating who never appeared at their assigned table, along with infrequent anytime dinners, would be assigned tables based on availability which may be different than what they requested or expected. 

 

This caused mass confusion.  

 

Even though everyone received a card with their table and dining time, many people never bothered to look at their table assignment card and simply went to their original table – the one they never used the entire cruise – and were surprised to find that they were assigned elsewhere.   Other people who ate every dinner in the Lido had no idea where their table was and had to be escorted.  The combination of the above slowed down service considerably.  

 

GALA DINNER

 

Our assigned dinner time was 7:45 PM, but we arrived around 8 PM. The entrance on Deck 5 was still packed with people just starting to shuffle into the dining room.  We heard later about even larger crowds on Deck 4 and how some people couldn’t even get off the elevators outside the entrance to the dining room.  We didn’t have a problem since we were 15 minutes late and knew where we were going. 

We were joined by another couple, reassigned from Deck 4, and our table was hosted by Future Cruise Consultants – Michael and Joan.  Our new guests spent much of the time during dinner wondering aloud about why they didn’t have their original table, not seeming to comprehend that since this was the only time they had appeared in the MDR all cruise, they probably shouldn’t expect to sit at “their” table.

The Captain welcomed everyone and offered the following toast:  “May we go where we want to and not where we have to”.  Unfortunately, as we now know, we ended up going where we had to, not where we wanted to.

 

 

“May we go where we want to and not where we have to”

 

The “Station Band”, normally seen in the Crow’s Nest, was playing background music during dinner.

Despite the crowd, the service was excellent.  The food was fine and nicely presented. Dishing up over 500 rations twice in one evening and maintaining this quality is an achievement.  The portion sizes were smaller than many expected, but probably the right size for what we needed. 

 

 

The one item we missed was the chance for a photo with the Captain.  They might have been able to set up a separate photo line for those interested, but it would be hard to gauge demand – not sure how to solve that one.  Nevertheless, they successfully ended the expectation that there will be a special Captains dinner at all, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they simply did away with even this dinner in the future as very few people had much good to say about it. 

 

Captain's Table on Deck 4

 

The evening's show was pushed back to 10 PM, to allow for more time for people to get to the show.  This was a good plan as the meals did take longer.

 

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

 

On the Mainstage this evening the HAL singers and dancers performed “The Midnight Hour”.  We enjoy seeing the cast shows. They are always excellent and worth seeing multiple times.  Some of the featured songs included:

• Fever
• Stuck in the Middle With You
• Me and Mrs Jones
• Instrumental – Green Onions by Booker T & the M.G.'s
• I’m Coming Home
• Valerie
• A Little More Satisfaction
• At Last

 

HAL Singers and Dancers performing "The Midnight Hour"
File Photo from 2018 World Cruise

 

PILLOW GIFTS

The latest Pillow Gift was waiting for us when we returned to our cabin at the end of the evening. We received two small ceramic boxes made by Royal Goedewaagen.  They were presented in thin mesh bags instead of boxes. We'll see if we can pack them well enough to survive the shipment to our condo at the end of the cruise.

 

 

[viper79]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:32 AM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I will be continuing my posts where I left off March 5th.   A little diversion from all the bad news...

 

 

Day 61, Captains Gala Dinner, March 5th

 

I will be picking up my blog where I left off, back on March 5^th.  My last regular post was over a month ago on March 4^th with a report of our visit to The Bay of Islands.  After I finish the missing days, between March 5^th and March 25, I will re-date everything so they will appear in the correct order when anyone comes back to this cruise in the future.

 

At Sea, enroute to Sydney, Australia

 

It was nice to have some sea days after 3 straight days in port.  

 

NOTE: For anyone contemplating a World Cruise, or cruising in general, you must enjoy the time you have at sea, otherwise you are probably better off with a land only vacation.  There are many repeat World Cruisers on the Amsterdam where the real destination is the ship itself and the other passengers they have come to know over the years.  In many respects the Amsterdam is their winter home.

 

COFFEE CHAT

 

I started my day as always by attending the Coffee Chat in the Explorers Lounge.  Today’s guests were “The Alley Cats”, the A cappella group that had performed before we our port call in Auckland. 

 

Coffee Chat is at 9:30 AM, and at 9:25 Hamish will come over the ship's public address system and announces the name of today’s guest followed by a rundown of the day's activities.  There was a time change last night, but instead of Hamish simply making note of this fact, he had the Alley Cats do a sing song version, in perfect harmony.  

 

Another running joke at the Coffee Chats is that guest entertainers are night owls who often tend to sleep in. Many of them consider the 9:30 AM Coffee Chat as ridiculously early.  To keep this gag going, the four Alley Cats appeared wearing Holland America bathrobes. 

 

Another running joke at the Coffee Chats is that guest entertainers are night owls who often tend to sleep in. Many of them consider the 9:30 AM Coffee Chat as ridiculously early.  To keep this gag going, the four Alley Cats appeared wearing Holland America bathrobes. 

 

 

Armando, Josh, Dennis, Gregory

 

 

Armando, leader, and creator, of the Alley Cats, explained that he has 2 and sometimes 3 groups of Alley Cats on tour at any one time.  

 

CRUISE CRITIC MEET AND GREET

 

Our Cruise Critic Roll Call group held the 3^rd Meet and Greet of the cruise in the Crow’s Nest with about 40 people in attendance.  Kathi made a few announcements including the upcoming Slot Pull.  We had a few new people join us in Auckland and they introduced themselves.

 

 

 

Roll Call Leader Kathi (aka Scrapnana)

 

 

 

Meet and Greet #3

 

 

SCHEDULE CHANGE – TAKE 2

 

 

The big news today was the second major schedule change.  Routine announcements during the day are never broadcast into the cabins, so when the Captain tells us that he needs to switch over to the circuit that broadcasts everywhere, we know that the news will be BIG.  

 

He informed us that India would not allow the ship to get a group visa, Sri Lanka and other ports were closing to cruise ships so we would sail around Australia, adding 4 more Australian Ports after Darwin:  Broome, Exmouth, Geraldton and finally Fremantle (Perth) arriving there on the 24^th.  After Perth we would head over to Reunion Island and then pick up the rest of the original itinerary.

 

Most everyone was pleased with this change as Australia is always popular and most people never get a chance to visit the far-flung cities of Western Australia.

 

 

NOTE: While I know the future now as I write this on 10 April 2020 back home in Imperial Beach, at the time, many of us speculated that  Fremantle might be our last port.  We were hoping that maybe we might end up taking a straight shot across to Cape Town and then on to Fort Lauderdale.  

 

CAPTAINS SPECIAL GALA DINNER

 

Tonight was a Gala Night, and not just any Gala night, but the Captain's Special Gala night that was going to be the substitute for the Captain's Dinners that used to be held in the Pinnacle Grill for guests that that were doing the full World Cruise.  On earlier World Cruises, the guests who were on for the entire cruise, were hosted by the Captain in the Pinnacle Grill.  I suspect this tradition was started when there were fewer guests that did the whole World Cruise.  Now there are so many staying on board for the entire World Cruise, the Pinnacle Grill is booked for numerous Captain's Dinners over the length of the cruise. The Captain and his Officers were attending these dinners several times a week and those evenings the Pinnacle Grill was not available for other diners who would be paying the surcharge for their meal.   

 

 

SEATING CONFUSION

 

 

A few weeks ago, everyone was requested to RSVP for tonight’s dinner with their requested seating – early or late.  Dining Room Maître D, Presty, assigned tables a few days ago and everyone who said they were going to attend received a confirmation card with their time and table assignment.  People on fixed seating or with standing “anytime” reservations, would be assigned to their normal tables and times.  People on fixed seating who never appeared at their assigned table, along with infrequent anytime dinners, would be assigned tables based on availability which may be different than what they requested or expected. 

 

 

This caused mass confusion.  

 

 

Even though everyone received a card with their table and dining time, many people never bothered to look at their table assignment card and simply went to their original table – the one they never used the entire cruise – and were surprised to find that they were assigned elsewhere.   Other people who ate every dinner in the Lido had no idea where their table was and had to be escorted.  The combination of the above slowed down service considerably.  

 

 

GALA DINNER

 

 

Our assigned dinner time was 7:45 PM, but we arrived around 8 PM. The entrance on Deck 5 was still packed with people just starting to shuffle into the dining room.  We heard later about even larger crowds on Deck 4 and how some people couldn’t even get off the elevators outside the entrance to the dining room.  We didn’t have a problem since we were 15 minutes late and knew where we were going. 

 

We were joined by another couple, reassigned from Deck 4, and our table was hosted by Future Cruise Consultants – Michael and Joan.  Our new guests spent much of the time during dinner wondering aloud about why they didn’t have their original table, not seeming to comprehend that since this was the only time they had appeared in the MDR all cruise, they probably shouldn’t expect to sit at “their” table.

 

The Captain welcomed everyone and offered the following toast:  “May we go where we want to and not where we have to”.  Unfortunately, as we now know, we ended up going where we had to, not where we wanted to.

 

 

 

“May we go where we want to and not where we have to”

 

 

The “Station Band”, normally seen in the Crow’s Nest, was playing background music during dinner.

 

Despite the crowd, the service was excellent.  The food was fine and nicely presented. Dishing up over 500 rations twice in one evening and maintaining this quality is an achievement.  The portion sizes were smaller than many expected, but probably the right size for what we needed. 

 

 

 

 

The one item we missed was the chance for a photo with the Captain.  They might have been able to set up a separate photo line for those interested, but it would be hard to gauge demand – not sure how to solve that one.  Nevertheless, they successfully ended the expectation that there will be a special Captains dinner at all, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they simply did away with even this dinner in the future as very few people had much good to say about it. 

 

 

Captain's Table on Deck 4

 

 

The evening's show was pushed back to 10 PM, to allow for more time for people to get to the show.  This was a good plan as the meals did take longer.

 

 

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

 

 

On the Mainstage this evening the HAL singers and dancers performed “The Midnight Hour”.  We enjoy seeing the cast shows. They are always excellent and worth seeing multiple times.  Some of the featured songs included:

 

• Fever
• Stuck in the Middle With You
• Me and Mrs Jones
• Instrumental – Green Onions by Booker T & the M.G.'s
• I’m Coming Home
• Valerie
• A Little More Satisfaction
• At Last

 

 

HAL Singers and Dancers performing "The Midnight Hour"
File Photo from 2018 World Cruise

 

 

PILLOW GIFTS

 

The latest Pillow Gift was waiting for us when we returned to our cabin at the end of the evening. We received two small ceramic boxes made by Royal Goedewaagen.  They were presented in thin mesh bags instead of boxes. We'll see if we can pack them well enough to survive the shipment to our condo at the end of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete And Judy , Have enjoyed reading your travels. Are you going to be investing in CCL 11.5% bonds?

Edited April 12, 2020 by viper79

[MamaFej]

Looking for Hubby's aunt and uncle in blog photos is like playing Where's Waldo. 😁

[The-Inside-Cabin]

32 minutes ago, viper79 said:

Pete And Judy , Have enjoyed reading your travels. Are you going to be investing in CCL 11.5% bonds?

First I heard of them...Will probably buy some

[kazu]

37 minutes ago, viper79 said:

Our Cruise Critic Roll Call group held the 3^rd Meet and Greet of the cruise in the Crow’s Nest with about 40 people in attendance.  Kathi made a few announcements including the upcoming Slot Pull.  We had a few new people join us in Auckland and they introduced themselves.

 

 

 

Roll Call Leader Kathi (aka Scrapnana)

 

Nice to see Kathi’s pic.  Thanks 😄
 

The captain’s toast is ironic indeed given the hindsight we all have now.

 

thanks for the update 😄 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Day 62, STRAIGHT FLUSH ON THE FLOP!

March 6^th

CASINO UPDATE

I have been playing Texas Hold'em every sea day this cruise.  Today I experienced something for the first time EVER. 

 

I flopped a STRAIGHT FLUSH.  

 

The odds of this happening are about 10,000 to 1.  For the non poker players, a straight flush is the highest poker hand possible, beating 4 Aces.   This is when you have 5 cards of the same suit (a Flush), that are also in sequence (a Straight).  This rare combination is called a Straight Flush.

I was in the Big Blind and was dealt a 7 and 10 of Diamonds.  Everyone checked around and the flop appeared on the electronic table: 6, 8 and 9 of Diamonds!.  I raised one Big Blind and all but one player folded.  There was little interest from the only caller and I was able to get him to call one more small raise before the showdown.  If he had had a better hand he would have bet more. No big payday for my winning hand, but a lot of fun nevertheless.

 

I managed to get my phone out to grab a picture of the electronic table before it vanished

COFFEE CHAT

Irish Comedian William Caulfield, was today's guest at Coffee Chat.  Now that the Alley Cats have set the stage for humorous pre-Coffee Chat announcements, William Caulfield reminded everyone that the clocks were turned back one hour earlier this morning with his thick Irish accent.

Today was Hamish’s Birthday and William started out by singing Happy Birthday before they started the interview.  William was a wonderful guest and totally captivated the audience with a 15 minute story about how he got his start in comedy while living in Northern Ireland. 

KNITTING UPDATE

Judy spends many sea day mornings up in the Crow's Nest knitting with other fiber enthusiasts. Judy is a very popular name and after Auckland, another Judy joined the group completing the "Four Judys".

 

The Four Judys

LCR

Before Dinner we joined some friends in their cabin for a game of “Left, Center, Right”. We had a fun and noisy time. Who knew we could squeeze nine people into a veranda cabin.  More about the game HERE  https://www.wikihow.com/Play-LCR

DINNER WITH THE ALLEY CATS

Several of the A Capella group “The Alley Cats” joined us for dinner.  We had a wonderful time and learned that they are big hockey fans as well as avid poker players.  Armando even tried his luck during the afternoon Texas Hold’em game.  I missed him as I always play in the morning game.

The Alley Cats join Table 52: Armando, Judy, Deena, Pete, Gregory and Dennis

MAIN STAGE

Brett Cave was the featured entertainer on the Main Stage.  Wearing a bright orange suit, he exploded onto the stage with a high energy show that went on for an hour, well past the normal 45 minute standard.  I have included here a photo I took of his show in 2018.  He played a number of hits including:

• The Entertainer
• You May Be Right
• Hello
• Love Will Keep Us Together
• Beatles medley
• Crocodile Rock
• Piano Man

 

Brett Cave 2018 File Photo