Cruising into Twenty - Twenty two : Something old and something Nieuw

[scubacruiserx2]

It's been a couple of years since our last cruise . That one was on the Zuiderdam after a dry dock around Christmas in 2019 and went to the ABC islands . We wanted something familiar and yet , something different . I thought back to a song from my childhood ( When my wife was just 2 ) and we let Frankie Ford provide the inspiration for our future cruise .

 

 

After being pumped up by Frankie and keeping with our theme , we found an itinerary that we were comfortable with and excited about . The B island of the ABC triad would be replaced with an old friend - Grand Turk . Our ride would be a new ship to us - The Nieuw Amsterdam . We had done our first Neptune Suite on her sister The Eurodam on our first trip to Alaska in Suite 7059 . We were excited about a couple of days at sea to relax and get acquainted with the ship before getting busy with our first port - Curacao . It was just what the Doctor ordered and what we wanted .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Sail away

 

 

Half Moon Cay

 

Grand Turk

 

Amber Cove

 

Willemstad

 

Oranjestad

[Dunmore2]

Very nice.

[High Flyer]

Best sail away photo I've ever seen....

[scubacruiserx2]

7 hours ago, Dunmore2 said:

Very nice.

 

Thanks and it gets better .

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, High Flyer said:

Best sail away photo I've ever seen....

 

Thank you very much for you're kind remark . We do like our home port for sail away !

[ski ww]

The pictures do bring back great memories of sail aways & past cruises.

[scubacruiserx2]

21 minutes ago, ski ww said:

The pictures do bring back great memories of sail aways & past cruises.

 

Hopefully there will be many more in your future . Yesterdays cruise on the NA was canceled because only 500 passengers had booked it . We wish that they would have made a decent offer for it as we would have gladly booked it on the spot .

[puppycanducruise]

Great pictures.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, puppycanducruise said:

Great pictures.

Looking forward to seeing more.

 

Thanks , we have over 3000 photos to choose from and 100 video clips to look at and or edit .

[scubacruiserx2]

After booking our cruise we booked our specialty dining as soon as we could and 3 private tours in Aruba , Curacao the Dominican Republic . With just a month to go HAL flipped the schedule and our sea cruise became a Boots On the Ground cruise instead requiring changes to our tours and guides . Our previous guide in the DR was now available to take us but we didn't feel right canceling our new guide , so we didn't . The day before we were to leave we went to the Walgreens about a mile from our house for the Ring around the Nosy rapid antigen test . It was free and an hour and a half later we got our negative test and began packing . We left the next morning and an hour and fifteen minutes later we were at the Park N Go and on the mini bus for the short ride to the ship . The boarding was very quick only slowing down for a nieuw photo for the facial recognition ID . With key cards in hand we entered Neptune Suite #7137 . It was like trading a black and white farm house in Kansas for a technicolor Oz .

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

A video clip of cabin # 7137 .

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We watched the safety drill and followed the signs in the ship forward for the length of the ship to what we thought was our muster station . The signs had us cross over to the Port side and go outside to the promenade and then aft the length of the ship . Finding nobody to present our keycards in order to check in for the drill went went to lunch at the Main dining room . There we were told that the check in wouldn't begin until 2 PM . For lunch I began with a BBQ chicken Spring roll .

 

Patty chose the Pannenkoek , an apple and bacon Dutch pancake .

 

 

I chose the Lobster roll

 

 

The lobster roll and slaw were mushy and the roll was kind of salty . The water that we brought on was in a paper container and we brought on our limit of 12 . It was like liquid gold to us , but a lot cheaper .

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Introducing new feature Trip tips . Things that we use to make travel more easy and enjoyable .

#1 Bag tags - Reusable luggage tag holders . We attach 1 to each handle to get our checked luggage where we want it to go .

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Holders-Steel-Loops/dp/B017BVF8L6/ref=sxin_14?asc_contentid=amzn1.osa.e22f36ca-9a08-4fb4-ae31-00eecfb1ec00.ATVPDKIKX0DER.en_US&asc_contenttype=article&ascsubtag=amzn1.osa.e22f36ca-9a08-4

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Our next order of business was a visit to the Neptune Lounge to meet the Concierge . We never ate more than snacks or a cup of coffee there but it seemed like it was slim pickens compared to the good ole days .

[scubacruiserx2]

     The Retreat

 

 

 

 

 

  Our cabin was the aft Starboard corner . We were interested in a cabana on HMC until we heard that we could rent a cabana on the ship for the whole cruise for the same price as 4 hours on HMC . The Retreat cabanas are forward and when the family cabana on the Port side became available , we were all over it . This was our next stop after the lounge . We were in # 11 .

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

[scubacruiserx2]

A walk around the ship

Edited January 10, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

A sign of the times

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Hey HAL check this out . Windows in the hull , it doesn't get much cooler than this !

 

We went to check out the location of the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast in the morning .

 

Below us in the Atrium was some Christmas decorations .

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Trip tip # 2 - Luggage handle wraps . We use these to help us pick out our luggage in a sea of black suit cases in the luggage line up .

 

[Lido deck main]

Great pictures, keep it coming.  Re tip. #2, we added ribbon to our handles.   

[scubacruiserx2]

9 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

Great pictures, keep it coming.  Re tip. #2, we added ribbon to our handles.   

 

Thanks and the best photos are yet to come . Regarding tip # 2 . That sounds like a great way to repurpose and reuse those throw away ribbons left after opening Christmas presents . 🙂😊

[scubacruiserx2]

After our ship familiarization walk we returned to the cabin for unpacking duties before the sail away . Soon it was azipods on and cast off all lines .

 

We hustled forward to our Retreat perch for the sail away where we met the dynamic duo of Alvin and Wency the Retreat attendants . We had been craving some Dive In fries ( Only for a couple of years ) and they appeared as if by magic along with some chocolate covered strawberries . Hey ,we could get to like this place !

[ski ww]

Thanks for the great photos. I guess it's the next best thing, if we can't be on a cruise look at photos from people who are.