Nearly Live from Oosterdam Med Empires June 13th - 25th.

[VMax1700]

Then just to confound us, we just had a great toot fest with Azura on leaving Souda this evening.

[FlorenceItaly]

6 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Then just to confound us, we just had a great toot fest with Azura on leaving Souda this evening.

Someone is probably reading this thread......

[terrydtx]

26 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Then just to confound us, we just had a great toot fest with Azura on leaving Souda this evening.

I am so jealous you got to go to Souda, our August 21 Oosterdam cruise had this port canceled and replaced with our 5th sea day on the 14-day itinerary. HAL never gave us any reasoning for doing the cancellation. Santorini and Souda were one of the reasons we chose the itinerary and both ports were canceled by HAL.

[Vict0riann]

Discussing all this with Pat this morning, and he agreed, it is strange there are no noon announcements.  Usually it's the Captain first and then the CD with their spiels.  (Also thought of quarantine for the Captain.)

 

Colin, we are booked on the O next year.  Now having second thoughts.  I would be missing Tamarind, too.  

[kazu]

3 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

Discussing all this with Pat this morning, and he agreed, it is strange there are no noon announcements.  Usually it's the Captain first and then the CD with their spiels.  (Also thought of quarantine for the Captain.)

 

Colin, we are booked on the O next year.  Now having second thoughts.  I would be missing Tamarind, too.  

 

I’m on her in November Ann (along with Colin and a whole bunch of others).  I’ll be doing a LIVE thread and will certainly let you all know.

I’m hoping things will be much improved 🤞 

If they are not, I might not be back on her next May 😳 

[FlorenceItaly]

3 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I’m on her in November Ann (along with Colin and a whole bunch of others).  I’ll be doing a LIVE thread and will certainly let you all know.

I’m hoping things will be much improved 🤞 

If they are not, I might not be back on her next May 😳 

Jacqui, I can not find a similar itinerary during the May timeframe that even compares.  I have looked.

[kazu]

Just now, FlorenceItaly said:

Jacqui, I can not find a similar itinerary during the May timeframe that even compares.  I have looked.

 

Yes, I know - I looked too when I was looking for options after our Norway cruise.   I have a feeling November will be fine.  At least I sure hope so.  Oosterdam just started up not very long ago so…hopefully things improve 🤞 

[VMax1700]

Good afternoon from Oosterdam.

Here is today's When & Where  for our second full sea day and second 'Dressy' night

 

 

 

[VMax1700]

For a moment I thought that the entertainment on board was taking a giant step forward when I spotted ' 2pm On Mainstage  David Copperfield', 😀  but only a movie.🙄

 

This morning was 'Ask the Captain' and indeed Capt Rens was present on the stage.  And yes, he had been isolating as he had contracted Covid.  However this morning he was in top form and almost back to his old self!

One cruiser did ask him if he had anywhere he really wanted to go, that he had not already sailed to.  His answer was that he was really looking forward to, later this year, going through the Panama Canal and turning left towards Antartica.

( @kazu that is the cruise immediately after the TA, so now just need to find out when he will rejoin the ship!)

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

22 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

For a moment I thought that the entertainment on board was taking a giant step forward when I spotted ' 2pm On Mainstage  David Copperfield', 😀  but only a movie.🙄

 

This morning was 'Ask the Captain' and indeed Capt Rens was present on the stage.  And yes, he had been isolating as he had contracted Covid.  However this morning he was in top form and almost back to his old self!

One cruiser did ask him if he had anywhere he really wanted to go, that he had not already sailed to.  His answer was that he was really looking forward to, later this year, going through the Panama Canal and turning left towards Antartica.

( @kazu that is the cruise immediately after the TA, so now just need to find out when he will rejoin the ship!)

 

 

 

 

 

YAY 🙂 

Happy to hear he is recovering 👍 Hopefully now you see a change 🤞 

 

Thanks for your investigation into the TA 😄 

[VMax1700]

Today's menus

 

MDR Dinner menu

 

 

Lido Dinner menu:

 

 

 

And Lido Lunch menu

 

[VMax1700]

I forgot to mention earlier that the "orange juice" served at the Lido breakfast is ghastly.  It is like the stuff we used to give the kids at birthday parties - orange squash watered down, and well watered down.

We now just order Fresh orange juice on our cards and it is covered by HIA.  I know some would find this a terrible waste of HIA, but I don't think we have got near double figures for drinks in a day.

[VMax1700]

@Torquer Just coming back to you on the narration.  Departing Istanbul the CD spoke for about 30 minutes, but it was straight out of Google/Wikipedia.  Sailing through the Marmara Sea, we were sailing closer to the Northern coast, so Starboard cabins had a better view.  It was well after midnight before we got close to the Dardanelles, so using that time from the time we arrived in Istanbul, means, in my guestimate, we exited the Dardanelles on the way in at about 6am.  

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Today's menus

 

MDR Dinner menu

 

 

Lido Dinner menu:

 

 

 

And Lido Lunch menu

 

I see that for this second Gala Night there is no lobster on the MDR menu for the traditional surf and turf, looks like it was replaced with beef tenderloin with grilled shrimp. Since I am not a fan of any cruise ship lobster, the substitution of shrimp might be much better.

[VMax1700]

@terrydtx This morning at ask the Captain, he was asked about the stateroom TV and the location/map that is normally shown.  The Cruise Director said that a part of the system was broken and a new part had been ordered.  As soon as the part was received the mapping would be restored to the stateroom TV's.  (no delivery schedule offered)

[terrydtx]

27 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

I forgot to mention earlier that the "orange juice" served at the Lido breakfast is ghastly.  It is like the stuff we used to give the kids at birthday parties - orange squash watered down, and well watered down.

We now just order Fresh orange juice on our cards and it is covered by HIA.  I know some would find this a terrible waste of HIA, but I don't think we have got near double figures for drinks in a day.

Sounds more like Orange Tang! 

[VMax1700]

15 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Sounds more like Orange Tang! 

I googled that, but it tasted a bit like this....

[VMax1700]

23 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Then just to confound us, we just had a great toot fest with Azura on leaving Souda this evening.

 

23 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

Someone is probably reading this thread......

Capt Rens was asked about that during this morning's 'Ask the Captain'.  He said he likes to have fun and even the pilot boat joined in.  He did say, that he had asked the harbour masters permission first, as some harbour masters do not permit it.

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I see that for this second Gala Night there is no lobster on the MDR menu for the traditional surf and turf, looks like it was replaced with beef tenderloin with grilled shrimp. Since I am not a fan of any cruise ship lobster, the substitution of shrimp might be much better.

They've had the grilled shrimp and steak for years.  No substitution there.  I believe it used to be offered on the first gala night.

[Florida_gal_50]

What a strange thing for dinner on the lido menu, chicken and caramel apple.  I've seen everything now.  I'm a chicken fan but that in no way appeals to me.

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

They've had the grilled shrimp and steak for years.  No substitution there.  I believe it used to be offered on the first gala night.

I knew that it was on the first Gala Night, but this is the second Gala Night.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

I knew that it was on the first Gala Night, but this is the second Gala Night.

No, I meant normally on the cruises I've been on.  I know people seem to think lobster is still offered.  Its hasn't been for most of the cruises I've seen menus for or experienced myself since the start up unless you want to pay for it.

[terrydtx]

11 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

No, I meant normally on the cruises I've been on.  I know people seem to think lobster is still offered.  Its hasn't been for most of the cruises I've seen menus for or experienced myself since the start up unless you want to pay for it.

I understand now, I am just fine with no lobster, it is not worth having in most cases anyway. I have seen other posts in HAL threads of people thinking that lobster is still free.  After seeing the menus posted in this thread, it is obvious on at least the Oosterdam that there is no free lobster.

[VMax1700]

When we returned to our room tonight after dinner, there was an envelope on the bed and inside was an invitation from Hotel General Manager and team inviting us to an "exclusive Cabana Get Together" at the Retreat tomorrow at 6.30pm.

Has anyone seen anything like this before?  If it is a 'hard sell' of cabanas, they have got it wrong as we debark on Saturday.

We have a 5.30pm Dinner reservation in Canaletto tomorrow, so may not make it to the Retreat.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

When we returned to our room tonight after dinner, there was an envelope on the bed and inside was an invitation from Hotel General Manager and team inviting us to an "exclusive Cabana Get Together" at the Retreat tomorrow at 6.30pm.

Has anyone seen anything like this before?  If it is a 'hard sell' of cabanas, they have got it wrong as we debark on Saturday.

We have a 5.30pm Dinner reservation in Canaletto tomorrow, so may not make it to the Retreat.

I definitely don’t think it’s a hard sell of the cabanas.  I think its just a nice party.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.