LIVE from the MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE ROTTERDAM VII - TRANSATLANTIC

[sansterre]

There was a medical emergency last night and the ship backtracked for about 3 hours until a helicopter arrived around 3 am.  It may have been the transfer that woke me up, or maybe it was the feeling that we were turning in the water.  When I checked the TV map we were headed North!

Now we are back on course at 19 knots.  Hopefully the sick person is getting good care now and the ship can still make the port of Ponta Delgada,

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I would appreciate if you could check the casino and see if they have a Texas Holdem Table.   The Nieuw Statendam doesn't have one, but every other HAL ship has Texas Holdem

[Laminator]

22 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I would appreciate if you could check the casino and see if they have a Texas Holdem Table.   The Nieuw Statendam doesn't have one, but every other HAL ship has Texas Holdem

I am 99.9% sure the Rotterdam does not have one either. 

[0bnxshs]

13 hours ago, sansterre said:

First to answer Rich's question about Capt. Albert Schoonderbeek

Thanks!  I think we've had Tony on the entertainment staff before also.

[KirkNC]

12 hours ago, sansterre said:

Now we are cruising Southwest at 21 knots at 237 degrees.  We should arrive Ponta Delgada, Azores on Wednesday at 8 a.m.

We should gain an hour every day, for awhile anyway.

But tomorrow our Covid test is scheduled for 7:30 A.M. 

Tomorrow is also our Roll Call Meet and Greet at 11:00.

Also tonight we received an invite to Mariner Society Recognition Event, also at 11:00.

Since I have organized the Meet and Greet, I will go to it.  DH will go to the Mariner's event.

In the afternoon I will post some more photos and try to answer questions.

 

That’s too bad they put the Mariners event at the same time, that will cut the M&G attendance.

[puppycanducruise]

Fabulous pictures.  Thanks for posting.

[Caribbean Chris]

Your photos of Monet’s house were lovely. On my list now for future.

[kazu]

15 hours ago, sansterre said:

Tomorrow is also our Roll Call Meet and Greet at 11:00.

Also tonight we received an invite to Mariner Society Recognition Event, also at 11:00.

 

Dam on the conflict.  Seems like an awful early time for a Mariner recognition event 😔 

[mcrcruiser]

9 hours ago, sansterre said:

There was a medical emergency last night and the ship backtracked for about 3 hours until a helicopter arrived around 3 am.  It may have been the transfer that woke me up, or maybe it was the feeling that we were turning in the water.  When I checked the TV map we were headed North!

Now we are back on course at 19 knots.  Hopefully the sick person is getting good care now and the ship can still make the port of Ponta Delgada,

 

 

We hope that the people who had that medical emergency had medical & med vac insurance   .We were on one where the ship was too far off Hawaii & had to turn around for the med vac helicopter to get to the ship . what happened was that every one who had flights were on computers trying to rearrange flights home  . so here trip interruption insurance was needed for those many people with flight problems 

We would never sail with out adequate insurance 

[CruiserBruce]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Dam on the conflict.  Seems like an awful early time for a Mariner recognition event 😔 

Depends if you are talking about the reception before the lunch for medallion awards. That usually starts at 11:15.

[kazu]

18 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Depends if you are talking about the reception before the lunch for medallion awards. That usually starts at 11:15.

 

I didn’t read it as such.  IME the Mariner medallion event happens later in the cruise (especially on a TA with lots of sea days 😉) The Mariner reception is early on in the cruise.  But, yes that reception is at that time.  

[aliaschief]

On our recent Nieuw Amsterdam cruise Mariners lunch was early in cruise. At the end of cruise they had a Mariners cocktail reception ( per# of people may have been only 4&5 star Mariners) at 7:00 PM outside at the Retreat. I don’t recall any medallion ceremony or at least wasn’t invited to one.

[sfocruiser]

49 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I didn’t read it as such.  IME the Mariner medallion event happens later in the cruise (especially on a TA with lots of sea days 😉) The Mariner reception is early on in the cruise.  But, yes that reception is at that time.  

 

if I can remember correctly.  Day 2 Brugge (sea day) reception for 4/5 star

 

today medal award reception at 11:00

 

At the reception CD noted that the mariner lunch would be broken into two groups/days

 

The Captain was doing picture duty solo as the HD had to make a quick escape, possibly due to a false automated fire alarm notification going out to some guest cabins

Edited October 25, 2021 by sfocruiser

[kazu]

12 minutes ago, sfocruiser said:

 

if I can remember correctly.  Day 2 Brugge (sea day) reception for 4/5 star

 

today medal award reception at 11:00

 

At the reception CD noted that the mariner lunch would be broken into two groups/days

 

Thanks muchly 🙂.  By any chance do you recall what time the reception for the 4/5 star Mariners.?  In the past it’s been in the afternoon but I’m wondering if that has now changed?

 

I ask as I’m wondering if I should be re-considering my time for my Meet and Greets?  I usually set them for around the same time as sansterre.

 

Looks like the Brugge - sea day moved things up.

 

Thanks kindly 🙂 

[Babr]

4 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We hope that the people who had that medical emergency had medical & med vac insurance   .We were on one where the ship was too far off Hawaii & had to turn around for the med vac helicopter to get to the ship . what happened was that every one who had flights were on computers trying to rearrange flights home  . so here trip interruption insurance was needed for those many people with flight problems 

We would never sail with out adequate insurance 

The helicopter at-sea evacuation is provided by the appropriate branch of the military from the nearest country capable of responding. There is no charge for that service, but the patient may need evacuation coverage for transfer to another facility if he needs a higher level of care. 
 

Medical with evacuation insurance is certainly necessary, but it not responsible for that part of the evacuation process.

 

You made a good point that may not have occurred to many. The trip delay/interruption feature was useful for the others who were impacted by the delayed arrival in port. 

 

 

[sfocruiser]

13 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Thanks muchly 🙂.  By any chance do you recall what time the reception for the 4/5 star Mariners.?  In the past it’s been in the afternoon but I’m wondering if that has now changed?

 

I ask as I’m wondering if I should be re-considering my time for my Meet and Greets?  I usually set them for around the same time as sansterre.

 

Looks like the Brugge - sea day moved things up.

 

Thanks kindly 🙂 

the boss reminded me that the 4/5 star reception was embarkation day not Brugge at 8:30 pm

[Alphen]

11 hours ago, Babr said:

The helicopter at-sea evacuation is provided by the appropriate branch of the military from the nearest country capable of responding. There is no charge for that service, but the patient may need evacuation coverage for transfer to another facility if he needs a higher level of care. 
 

Medical with evacuation insurance is certainly necessary, but it not responsible for that part of the evacuation process.

 

You made a good point that may not have occurred to many. The trip delay/interruption feature was useful for the others who were impacted by the delayed arrival in port. 

 

 

In these days of continued privatization of services, there are already quite a few countries that do not have coastguard or military helicopter rescue services anymore. Countries like the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands have civilian commercial operators that are contracted by the government to provide the services that used to be done by military and or coastguard. Most likely these services are still paid for by the respective governments. 

[sansterre]

Meet and Greet went well with about 90 attending.  Seth attended, along with the Hotel Director.  I think everyone kept their mask on throughout, except Seth who talked a lot about HAL.  He said our cruise was nearly cancelled when a10 day quarantine was issued for all tourist from USA.  Fortunately that was rescinded and Holland America kept the TA cruise.  Q & A continued with Set for about 15 minutes.  Cruisers are disappointed that there is no memorabilia to purchase.  Again, not knowing if the TA cruise would "go" and the shipping and supply chain problems interfered with that.  Seth said they would try to give us information on how to purchase Rotterdam VII merchandise when it is available.

[sansterre]

I posted the above and three additional posts yesterday.  Seems that they are held by Cruise Critic and only the first post is retained and restored.  While things are going well, I'll keep going although it is time to rise and shine.

It is 8:30 and looks like a beautiful day outside.  64 degrees with 79% humidity.  Seas are nearly calm today and ship is going 20 knots.  The last two days had rougher seas and speed was generally 18 knots.  

In the captain's noon message yesterday, he said we would make the stop at the Azores and would be able to give more detailed information today at noon.  Reading between the lines and looking at the map, I think our arrival will be slightly delayed by an hour or two.  I believe we lost about 6 or 7 hours, but he thinks we can make up most of that time.  Since I have a small group tour planned at 9, I need to pay attention.  

[sansterre]

Mariner's Ceremony - DH went there and I came down after starting the Meet and Greet.  They awarded silver, gold medallions and one platinum.  Then introduced three couples who were President's Club.  Some, but not all recipients went up for photos with the Captain who was masked throughout.  Most, but not all recipients getting pictures with the Captain were masked.  Invitations requested social distance so that the 2 or 3 people filled the photograph.  

The Hotel Director was not in the photos and was doing other things including saying a few words to the Cruise Critic group.

Ceremony was over by 11:22 so we went back upstairs to the Meet and Greet where Seth was talking and ended with some Q & A.

Note to Rich who did our spreadsheet - the last comment at the Meet and Greet was from a woman who said how wonderful you were to keep us together on Roll Call even though you cancelled the TA.  We all fully agree - many thanks to you!

[kazu]

3 hours ago, sfocruiser said:

the boss reminded me that the 4/5 star reception was embarkation day not Brugge at 8:30 pm

 

Thank you to you and the “boss” 😉 

[0bnxshs]

2 hours ago, sansterre said:

Note to Rich who did our spreadsheet - the last comment at the Meet and Greet was from a woman who said how wonderful you were to keep us together on Roll Call even though you cancelled the TA.  We all fully agree - many thanks to you!

You're quite welcome; I still feel like I am invested in this cruise and am enjoying reading everyone's posts.  Having 90 attend out of the 130 who signed up (some of whom may well have canceled and we didn't hear about it) is great!  I'm glad that Seth attended and provided some insight that you wouldn't have gotten elsewhere.

 

Time to start the process of getting packed so we can board on 5 November for my DWs well deserved time off!  Say hi to everyone!

[sansterre]

14 hours ago, sfocruiser said:

the boss reminded me that the 4/5 star reception was embarkation day not Brugge at 8:30 pm

Yes, your boss is right - embarkation day.  I remember the invitation as being from 7-8, but definitely it was after dinner.   We were so tired we barely made 5:30 dinner.😴

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sansterre]

Yesterday's Meet and Greet session in Explorations Central (aka Crow's Nest)

HAL spokesperson, Seth speaking in first photo.

[sansterre]

Mariner's lunch today was excellent.  Menu is Caribbean theme but food was excellent.  We especially liked the Chowder and the Cobia fish entree.