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Venture to the Caribbean with Bill & Mary Ann on the Nieuw Statendam & Nieuw Amsterdam 12-18-21 to 4-26-22

WCB

By WCB,
in Holland America Line

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WCB "Live from...." Rare

WCB

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Venture to the Caribbean with Bill & Mary Ann on the Nieuw Statendam & Nieuw Amsterdam

 

Report # 1  Travel Day   December 18, 2021   Saturday    Cold in Clayton 33 degrees - 81 degrees in Ft. Lauderdale

 

Well, here we go again, beginning a different type of long journey on the Nieuw Statendam for about 108 days.  The ship will stay in the western, eastern, and southern Caribbean instead of circling the world.  The final 19 day cruise will take us through the Panama Canal, back to San Diego, with a short flight to San Francisco.  Looking forward to it since we have never sailed on this class of ship before.  One thing for sure, we will get plenty of exercise just walking from one end to the other.

 

Having passed the Covid tests on Friday, we looked for the health questionnaires to arrive via email from HAL.  Oddly enough, they never sent them.  Calling there, we learned that there was a bug in the system, and not everyone got them.  So we will fill out the form when we get to the pier like we always did in the past.

 

Now to the “travel day” saga.  The day began early at 2:30am for a 4am pick up by our friendly driver.  Despite the fact that it is the holiday season, the traffic was very light.  Also, it was a Saturday, and that helped.   Once at the SFO airport, it was a different story.  Everybody and their brother seemed to be flying somewhere.  Flying with Alaska Airlines, we noticed that the check-in area was very confusing.  Lines crossed over with folks waiting for the kiosks, as well as passengers (some with dogs) lining up to drop off tagged bags.  At times, we think the dogs were better behaved than the guests.  Our luggage tags did not print, so an agent took us out of the help line, and did it for us.  Nice guy.

 

Then off we went to the security line, where we did not get the magic TSA free pass.  At least we did not have to take off our shoes or separate the small liquid baggie.  However, the knee replacement ( I assume) set off the bells, and I was subjected to the xray and pat down.  Saying nothing about the knee (they don’t listen anyway), the guard decided my watch set off the alarm.  OK with me.  Even if I had a card certifying that I had a replacement, they would still search, so my doctor does not issue cards anymore.

 

We were early enough to enjoy a hot breakfast with lots of coffee before boarding at 7:20am.  The morning had gone relatively well, and we knew the flight would be good too. Remember the longer flights when you were fed a meal? Well, no more.  Beverages were served along with Cheezits and Biscoff cookies. Most folks buy all of their food right before boarding, despite the cost. Anyway, all  went well, but, little did we know what awaited us later in the day.

 

The plane landed around 4:30pm Florida time to overcast skies and muggy breezes.  No rain, which was good.  Now was when the fun started.  There was no rep in sight as promised in our documents.  We had pre-purchased a one night hotel package with transfers on both ends.  About an hour later, several more people congregated…some were going on a Princess cruise, and another couple of ladies were with us for the HAL cruise.  Finally a rep appeared, but she was not the most helpful person as she spent most of her time on her cell phone.  We sensed that something was wrong with our ride, but she promised it would be just a little longer (actually one hour).  Two more agents showed up, and led us outside, put the four of us in a van, and off we went.  Except, we were going in the wrong direction towards the Las Olas area, and a different hotel (The Element).  By now it was dark, and we stopped the driver and said this is not the way to the Renaissance Plantation.  Traffic was horrendous, and the local drivers were so rude.  So our driver got a call from his boss, who insists that HAL had cancelled our hotel reservations, and we were to be brought back to the airport.  Really???  You can bet that did not sit well with the four of us.  He claimed he would get fired if he took us to the other hotel.  So back we went where we sorted out what happened.  A much younger agent had made a mistake, and put us in the wrong van.  Then we discovered that if we had insisted that he drive us to the right hotel, we would have had to pay the first driver directly.  No way!  Long story short, the other agent apologized profusely, and ordered us another van.  Within 30 minutes, we were at the right place, and found our reservations were still intact.   Good thing, since none of us needed this extra stress.  The agent did promise a bottle of champagne, which all of us said, we would rather have something stronger than that!  Time will tell……….

 

There was an HAL rep at the hotel, and also apologized for the mix-up.  She had the info for our transfer tomorrow, so we were all feeling better.  The nice ladies that shared this experience (both from Texas) claimed they will have lots to write their family about tomorrow.  Dropping off our stuff, we headed to Bokampers located near the hotel.   Both us of enjoyed chicken Caesar salads with a soda and a beer.  Really looking forward to a good night’s sleep, breakfast tomorrow, and boarding the ship  around 12pm.  Now we ask, what else can go wrong??  Better not ask!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

PS  We are posting the report and photos at this blog site:

 

https://cruisingwithbillandmaryann.blogspot.com/

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Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

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I don’t know what is wrong with hal lately and their hotel transfers.  They seem very confused.

 

Looking forward to reading about your adventures.  The n statendam is my favorite ship.  I met some friends of yours, Leslie and Handler (sorry if the spelling isn’t correct) in the pinnacle one night on the koningsdam in November. What lovely, interesting people they are.

 

 

 

 

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dchip

dchip

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Happy to know you are safe and sound in Florida! That is certainly no way to begin a vacation. YIkes. 
 

Since the advent of Global Entry and paying for TSA pre check, there are no more magic pre checks for airlines frequent fliers. 
 

It’s still really cold here with many days of rain ahead. Enjoy the warm temps and we hope lots of sunshine. 
 

BON VOYAGE!! 

Denise and Howie, too. 🤗

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cruzingnut

cruzingnut

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Oh, boy, how exciting!  Can't wait to follow your adventures!  Let us know if you find familiar crew to have breakfast with....let's see what name you can come up with.  Must keep the ".....ville"  breakfast section name going, even if it isn't with Gan!

 

Linda + Dave

WC "Ganville"

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Mickb

Mickb

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Welcome back Bill and MaryAnn from a Omecron ridden UK. Thank you for keeping our spirits up through what promises to be a long winter. We shall follow your voyage with anticipation and interest. Given the travails of your journey to Ft Lauderdale - it can only get better!

Bon Voyage!

 

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

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5 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I don’t know what is wrong with hal lately and their hotel transfers.  They seem very confused.

 

 

HAL's ground staff from whatever port I sailed were always top notch.  Organized, detailed, helpful, knew what they were doing.  Many of these people were older individuals.  I would not be surprised that many of these people are no longer interested in doing such jobs.  Thus, HAL has had to hire many new ground staff members that obviously lack the experience of those whom we remember.  

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RICHARD@SEA

RICHARD@SEA

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WCB..... so happy  to see you posting once again & that you ae on a cruise - tho not a

world voyage.

 

As far as Florida is concerned - I've been stuck here(Fort Lauderdale) for the last several months.....there is no surprise in what you went through after living  here (I'll be gone as as soon as I can relocate).

 

i hope the last few months in california have gone well for you both.

 

Looking forward to reading of your current voayge as I've thought about living onboard for the winter months instead of having a second home on land.

 

Bon Voyage!!!

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Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

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12 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

HAL's ground staff from whatever port I sailed were always top notch.  Organized, detailed, helpful, knew what they were doing.  Many of these people were older individuals.  I would not be surprised that many of these people are no longer interested in doing such jobs.  Thus, HAL has had to hire many new ground staff members that obviously lack the experience of those whom we remember.  

I agree.  I think so many companies hire inexperienced people because they are less costly.  It’s not less costly if it costs you business.

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