BTimmer's Almost Live Downunder 2022 - (10/2/22 to 12/6/22 on the Westerdam)

[Btimmer]

1 minute ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Tim, Would you PLEASE try to see Bobby in the Lido bar area and tell him Joy and Allen say hello. We love and miss him.

 

 

Bobby is the best! He's been our regular server in the Lido Pool area. I'll say hi for you.  When were you on with him?

[Seasick Sailor]

6 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Bobby is the best! He's been our regular server in the Lido Pool area. I'll say hi for you.  When were you on with him?

 

We were with him on Rotterdam for 30 days Dec/Jan 2022. He emails us every week!!

[Btimmer]

Just now, Seasick Sailor said:

 

We were with him on Rotterdam for 30 days Dec/Jan 2022. He emails us every week!!

We were on the Rotterdam for a couple of weeks in November to December 1.

[Seasick Sailor]

3 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

We were on the Rotterdam for a couple of weeks in November to December 1.

 

We will be on Rotterdam Dec 11 thru Jan 25th this year. Will miss seeing Bobby. On Koningsdam in Feb for the Hawaii and Tahiti cruise. He will be on vacation by then and won't know his next assignment...

[Btimmer]

5 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

We will be on Rotterdam Dec 11 thru Jan 25th this year. Will miss seeing Bobby. On Koningsdam in Feb for the Hawaii and Tahiti cruise. He will be on vacation by then and won't know his next assignment...

Bobby says hi!

 

[LouChamp]

8 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

We will be on Rotterdam Dec 11 thru Jan 25th this year. Will miss seeing Bobby. On Koningsdam in Feb for the Hawaii and Tahiti cruise. He will be on vacation by then and won't know his next assignment...

Love Tahiti and of course Hawaii lol.  HAL is our favorite mainstream line but miss the Yum Yum man! Enjoy 

[Btimmer]

The Seafood boil was excellent tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lido deck main]

Hi Tim, the seafood boil looks awesome.  I could see the Lido Market table signs on the table.  But not sure I understand correctly.  Is this a one time free special dinner in Lido or do you pay for this.  Is it once per cruise or more than once.  
Thanks, 

p.s. turtle pictures are so good could be for a coffee table book

[Seasick Sailor]

6 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Bobby says hi!

 

 

Thanks Tim! Bobby sent an email and told us you stopped by and showed him the picture. He's a very nice person. 

[Btimmer]

5 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

Hi Tim, the seafood boil looks awesome.  I could see the Lido Market table signs on the table.  But not sure I understand correctly.  Is this a one time free special dinner in Lido or do you pay for this.  Is it once per cruise or more than once.  
Thanks, 

p.s. turtle pictures are so good could be for a coffee table book

This was a paid pop up in the Lido.  It was offered twice this cruise.  I wrote about our fiasco with the first one in my blog earlier in the cruise.  To summarize the story, we signed up for it, received a telephone message that it had been cancelled, but we stumbled upon it the day it was held.  In any event it was much better for us than a Sel de Mer pop up.

 

Thanks for the compliment on the pictures. It was a fun day snorkeling.  Best so far this voyage.

[Seasick Sailor]

Tim, Bobby's family and friends have been unable to get in touch with one another due to the typhoon. His family is right in the middle of it. Please tell him I am praying for him.

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Tim, Bobby's family and friends have been unable to get in touch with one another due to the typhoon. His family is right in the middle of it. Please tell him I am praying for him.

I will pass the info on.  Prayers from me too.

[Btimmer]

Today in Alotau, Papua New Guinea, we procured a half day cultural tour from Alotau Tours.  The tour agency came highly recommended by our PNG speaker, John Hocknull.  I would totally concur.  It's 94º!  We're the second cruise ship to visit here since the end of the pandemic lockdown.  They are thrilled to have us back.  The Noordam is due here later in November and possibly the Zuiderdam.

 

Here are a few pictures from today.

 

Lovebirds

 

 

Bridge? What bridge?

 

Port Welcome Dancers

 

Drummer

 

Back at the Port

 

Men's work is to chop the fibers so the women can process the sagel

 

Sagle process being completed.  The jell is allowed to congeal and the liquid is discarded.

 

Children's welcome dance

 

Tim, Ben, & Angela

[Btimmer]

There's a small spelling correction from my Alotau post.  The young boys are preparing (chopping) the young sago palm trees for the sago not sagle.  It's an important source of starch for PNG people's food source.

[ozcruizer]

Loved seeing your photos of Alotau - we visited PNG on our very last cruise on the Maasdam, three years ago.  I've been watching the Westerdam's progress online and can't wait to board on 23 November.  Just a bit concerned about the Covid cases on board though.  Is it making any difference to your enjoyment?

[Btimmer]

2 minutes ago, ozcruizer said:

Loved seeing your photos of Alotau - we visited PNG on our very last cruise on the Maasdam, three years ago.  I've been watching the Westerdam's progress online and can't wait to board on 23 November.  Just a bit concerned about the Covid cases on board though.  Is it making any difference to your enjoyment?

We were on that Maasdam cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it!  The highlight of that cruise was our private excursion out of Wewak to the Sepic River.  The CD and Hotel Manager advised us against it because we were 3 plus hours by a dirt / gravel road from the ship.

 

The number of Covid cases isn't alarming to me and I REALLY appreciate the Captain sharing precise data with us.  Our enjoyment is not hampered at all. We mask up indoors most of the time. Once again we are having the time of our lives meeting new people and enjoying friendships with friends from prior cruises. In my blog today, I comment on a discussion with Freddy (a front office officer) whom we've sailed with before.

[Btimmer]

Day 1 in the Conflict Islands is in the books and it didn't live up to the hype for the best snorkeling.  The Captain  just updated us on the Covid numbers which are 45 passengers and 5 crew which is the same as yesterday.  After the tenders are retrieved we're heading out to sail overnight  in the Coral Sea before returning in the morning for day 2 here.  The ship hovered in position all day and the water depth was 1150 feet!

 

It's 94° here and the water at the shoreline is bath water warm.  
 

Here are a few pictures.

 

view of the beach 

 

 

 

 

As seen from the dock

 

 

Starfish

 

Underwater selfie

 

The Abyss

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

The Halloween party is still underway in the BBKing Lounge, but we didn't stay for the voting.  There were some very creative costumes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Btimmer

[XBGuy]

FIFY

 

 

 

[canadianbear]

Quite the costumes everyone had. What fun!

[Sallyandtex]

On 10/31/2022 at 12:32 AM, Btimmer said:

We were on that Maasdam cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it!  The highlight of that cruise was our private excursion out of Wewak to the Sepic River.  The CD and Hotel Manager advised us against it because we were 3 plus hours by a dirt / gravel road from the ship.

 

The number of Covid cases isn't alarming to me and I REALLY appreciate the Captain sharing precise data with us.  Our enjoyment is not hampered at all. We mask up indoors most of the time. Once again we are having the time of our lives meeting new people and enjoying friendships with friends from prior cruises. In my blog today, I comment on a discussion with Freddy (a front office officer) whom we've sailed with before.

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your pictures of the ship!

We are excited to be going to NZ from Sydney next week.

I will be bringing some surgical masks and some P2 for the tender boats, can you tell me if there is a supply of surgical masks in the cabins to replenish? 

It's wonderful the Captain has been good with the communication .

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, Sallyandtex said:

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your pictures of the ship!

We are excited to be going to NZ from Sydney next week.

I will be bringing some surgical masks and some P2 for the tender boats, can you tell me if there is a supply of surgical masks in the cabins to replenish? 

It's wonderful the Captain has been good with the communication .

Your cabin steward will be able to provide masks.  We've brought our own K95's.

 

Yes we appreciate the communication.  The report today was 47 passengers and 5 crew.

[Btimmer]

Today, we spent day 2 on Conflict Island.  We did a walk to the International Airport, walked the 2,100 foot runway, and back to our starting point.  Then we did a shore excursion snorkeling trip to the platform near the abyss.  In the afternoon, we snorkeled on the north side of the floating pier.  It was the best snorkeling of the 4 locations we tried.  Over the two days we spent around 6 hours in the water.  Our assessment of the snorkeling is that it's "okay", but clearly did not live up to the hype of the HAL shore excursion manager. I wouldn't book the snorkeling shore excursion here.  Simply snorkel from the beach on each side of the floating dock.  Time your snorkeling to be at or approaching high tide.  Then snorkel the long distance out to the abyss and it's pretty cool.

 

One location we have snorkeled at that's clearly superior is Moorea in French Polynesia.  And there are undoubtedly others.  

 

That being said, it's a wonderful place to visit.  It's sort of a Half Moon Cay on steroids.  And it was blazing hot, but there's lots of shade and refreshments are available. They only take credit cards. The water is like bath water in terms of temperature.  And it's crystal clear.

 

Here's a few pictures from today.

 

 

We didn't find Terminal 2. . .

 

Lying on the runway.  No traffic spotted.

 

 

A live clam shell (3' across)

 

The Abyss

 

Dead clam shell (2.5 feet across)

 

They all begin this way!

 

Our Walking Path

 

[Sallyandtex]

12 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Your cabin steward will be able to provide masks.  We've brought our own K95's.

 

Yes we appreciate the communication.  The report today was 47 passengers and 5 crew.

Thanks for the update.

Do you know if they have trivia on board? We really love to go to trivia on sea days.

Nothing showing on my navigator app

[Btimmer]

4 hours ago, Sallyandtex said:

Thanks for the update.

Do you know if they have trivia on board? We really love to go to trivia on sea days.

Nothing showing on my navigator app

There have been multiple trivia sessions per day and many different topics.  Last night was Beatles trivia.