Random Thoughts on our Nieuw Amsterdam cruise Nov 27 - Dec 4, 2022

[Naismith]

 

This was our first return to cruising since Nov 2019, having had a cruise cancelled in the interim.

 

We had an inside guarantee, but the upgrade fairy was busy and gave us 1098, a Main deck ocean view that is not near one of the noisy passageways or performance venues.  It was delightful.  We carried our luggage on, because folks here explained that entrance from Port Everglades is on the second deck, which meant we only had to carry bags down one easy flight of steps.  Our steward was from the Indonesian island where we used to live, and I was glad that we got to see him when we headed out to a Gala Night—I wore a garment that people from his tribe would wear for formal occasions. 

 

I was shocked that I could get a seat at Lincoln Center Stage when I showed up two minutes before.  (Other cruises, one needed to get there 20 minutes beforehand.)  So I was not surprised to learn that there were only 1,668 guests (about 80%), after a Thanksgiving cruise with 2,200 (including lots of families).

Lincoln Center Stage was excellent, but the violist was going to be leaving the ship when we disembarked—not sure if all of them were ending their contracts.  They did not do a “Meet the Artists” session.  Also, seemed like fewer LCS performances because there were TWO nights of BBC Earth on a 7-day cruise, which I refuse to attend again after seeing the replay of those baby lizards being eaten by snakes that I didn’t care for three years ago, either.

 

We used the Navigator to order from Dive-In for lunch on one of the sea days. I was surprised that after it gave me the green check and a number, the order disappeared, very different from other restaurant ordering apps that I had used.  It did eventually send me a message when it was ready, and someone pointed out the monitor (below/to the right of the Dive-In counter) where I could see my name and number.

 

I speak fairly fluent Indonesian, and we had many conversations with workers on the ship.  We had been to every island they came from, and most of their towns (or at least a city near their village), and many of them were a bit homesick, and happy to talk about things at home.  One of the housekeeping workers had lost family in the recent earthquake. 

 

For Gala attire, my husband wore a dressy batik shirt from Java, no tie required.  I wore a necklace from Bali and a ulos from Sumatra.  We had our formal pictures taken by Novi from Bali, who seems to be one of the few female photographers.  She was very good, catching the best angles to minimize glare from our glasses, etc. 

 

A few days in, our television stopped working, and since it is really a computer, an IT guy was sent to reboot after a guest services staffer identified the issue.  When we came back from supper, we walked past guest services, and that worker asked us if the TV was working now.  My husband said, “We think so,” and I added, “Mudah-mudahan!”  which is Indonesian for “Hopefully!”  Another guy at the desk turned his head at that, and I guess he asked who we were, because the next morning as I walked past he greeted me by name in Indonesian.

 

My one language failure happened at lunch on the third day.  As others have reported, that morning all of the crew were suddenly wearing masks.  At lunch a worker who we had talked with a few times brought us drinks, and I asked him if there were a lot of sick crew.  He looked around carefully, like he was not supposed to be talking about it, and I did not understand his answer. 

 

My husband likes to collect paper money from every place he visits.  He will typically go into a shop, buy something in dollars, and ask for change in local currency.  But banking is a Big Deal on Grand Cayman, and none of the shops would give him change in a different currency than was tendered.  But while he snorkeled, I went up to Camana Bay, lovely gardens and observation tower that is also a work of art.  I took the local bus back to the port, and I was the only passenger remaining when I was dropped off, so I offered the driver enough dollars to provide a good tip and asked for a Cayman dollar, which he was willing to provide.  Mischief managed.  

 

We were impressed with the quality of the multimedia EXC talks, which depend in part on the acting ability of the cruise director and Erin was great.  She mentioned that next year they are going to add one called “City on the Sea,” which shows a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the laundry as well as the bridge (since they are no longer offering the bridge or galley tours). 

 

Our stop in Falmouth was cancelled when we were in sight of the island, but winds were high and expected to get higher (and keep in mind that some of the shore excursions are 6+ hours, not easy to return).  The next day, the captain explained that there are no tug boats available in Falmouth, and the channel is kind of a narrow back-in, which made a lot of sense.  I was impressed with the rapid shift to a Sea Day; by 10 am new activities had not only been added to the Navigator, but a revised printed daily schedule was delivered to our room. 

 

The Navigator includes free access to The New York Times, so no lack of news for those who need that fix.  The printed crosswords were available up in the Crow’s Nest, which makes sense in terms of the games there, but I have seen them at Guest Services on other ships. 

 

At home we care for a 94-year-old relative, so we try to be cautious about catching something contagious.  We wore KN-95 masks in all indoor public areas, at performances and in elevators, and in line to leave/return to the ship.  We ate most meals outside on the Lido pool deck.  We did eat indoors three times, for the gala nights and Tamarind, but left masks on when not actually eating.  And we always had a table alone, so we missed out on the joy of meeting other travelers.  But that seemed a reasonable compromise between pretending there was no illness and staying home. 

 

So overall we had a great time.  

[REOVA]

A great recap and you sure made many crew members feel special. On Rotterdam they already show "City of the Sea" (maybe because it was longer than a 7 day cruise). It was interesting and much better than crowding through crew deck and bridge during these times (although we've done the later also). And mid cruise, masks came on more crew members but nothing was mentioned (other than during regular announcements a quick "if you are feeling ill please contact medical"). We also care for 93 yr experienced person and respect your precautions (we did the same). Thank you. 

[oldbluff]

Yes, thank you Naismith, for anecdotes from your return to cruising.

[iflyrc5]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:17 PM, Naismith said:

 

This was our first return to cruising since Nov 2019, having had a cruise cancelled in the interim.

 

We had an inside guarantee, but the upgrade fairy was busy and gave us 1098, a Main deck ocean view that is not near one of the noisy passageways or performance venues.  It was delightful.  We carried our luggage on, because folks here explained that entrance from Port Everglades is on the second deck, which meant we only had to carry bags down one easy flight of steps.  Our steward was from the Indonesian island where we used to live, and I was glad that we got to see him when we headed out to a Gala Night—I wore a garment that people from his tribe would wear for formal occasions. 

 

I was shocked that I could get a seat at Lincoln Center Stage when I showed up two minutes before.  (Other cruises, one needed to get there 20 minutes beforehand.)  So I was not surprised to learn that there were only 1,668 guests (about 80%), after a Thanksgiving cruise with 2,200 (including lots of families).

Lincoln Center Stage was excellent, but the violist was going to be leaving the ship when we disembarked—not sure if all of them were ending their contracts.  They did not do a “Meet the Artists” session.  Also, seemed like fewer LCS performances because there were TWO nights of BBC Earth on a 7-day cruise, which I refuse to attend again after seeing the replay of those baby lizards being eaten by snakes that I didn’t care for three years ago, either.

 

We used the Navigator to order from Dive-In for lunch on one of the sea days. I was surprised that after it gave me the green check and a number, the order disappeared, very different from other restaurant ordering apps that I had used.  It did eventually send me a message when it was ready, and someone pointed out the monitor (below/to the right of the Dive-In counter) where I could see my name and number.

 

I speak fairly fluent Indonesian, and we had many conversations with workers on the ship.  We had been to every island they came from, and most of their towns (or at least a city near their village), and many of them were a bit homesick, and happy to talk about things at home.  One of the housekeeping workers had lost family in the recent earthquake. 

 

For Gala attire, my husband wore a dressy batik shirt from Java, no tie required.  I wore a necklace from Bali and a ulos from Sumatra.  We had our formal pictures taken by Novi from Bali, who seems to be one of the few female photographers.  She was very good, catching the best angles to minimize glare from our glasses, etc. 

 

A few days in, our television stopped working, and since it is really a computer, an IT guy was sent to reboot after a guest services staffer identified the issue.  When we came back from supper, we walked past guest services, and that worker asked us if the TV was working now.  My husband said, “We think so,” and I added, “Mudah-mudahan!”  which is Indonesian for “Hopefully!”  Another guy at the desk turned his head at that, and I guess he asked who we were, because the next morning as I walked past he greeted me by name in Indonesian.

 

My one language failure happened at lunch on the third day.  As others have reported, that morning all of the crew were suddenly wearing masks.  At lunch a worker who we had talked with a few times brought us drinks, and I asked him if there were a lot of sick crew.  He looked around carefully, like he was not supposed to be talking about it, and I did not understand his answer. 

 

My husband likes to collect paper money from every place he visits.  He will typically go into a shop, buy something in dollars, and ask for change in local currency.  But banking is a Big Deal on Grand Cayman, and none of the shops would give him change in a different currency than was tendered.  But while he snorkeled, I went up to Camana Bay, lovely gardens and observation tower that is also a work of art.  I took the local bus back to the port, and I was the only passenger remaining when I was dropped off, so I offered the driver enough dollars to provide a good tip and asked for a Cayman dollar, which he was willing to provide.  Mischief managed.  

 

We were impressed with the quality of the multimedia EXC talks, which depend in part on the acting ability of the cruise director and Erin was great.  She mentioned that next year they are going to add one called “City on the Sea,” which shows a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the laundry as well as the bridge (since they are no longer offering the bridge or galley tours). 

 

Our stop in Falmouth was cancelled when we were in sight of the island, but winds were high and expected to get higher (and keep in mind that some of the shore excursions are 6+ hours, not easy to return).  The next day, the captain explained that there are no tug boats available in Falmouth, and the channel is kind of a narrow back-in, which made a lot of sense.  I was impressed with the rapid shift to a Sea Day; by 10 am new activities had not only been added to the Navigator, but a revised printed daily schedule was delivered to our room. 

 

The Navigator includes free access to The New York Times, so no lack of news for those who need that fix.  The printed crosswords were available up in the Crow’s Nest, which makes sense in terms of the games there, but I have seen them at Guest Services on other ships. 

 

At home we care for a 94-year-old relative, so we try to be cautious about catching something contagious.  We wore KN-95 masks in all indoor public areas, at performances and in elevators, and in line to leave/return to the ship.  We ate most meals outside on the Lido pool deck.  We did eat indoors three times, for the gala nights and Tamarind, but left masks on when not actually eating.  And we always had a table alone, so we missed out on the joy of meeting other travelers.  But that seemed a reasonable compromise between pretending there was no illness and staying home. 

 

So overall we had a great time.  

We were just aft of you in 1114.  Yes the crew was great as usual and Riden our room steward did an outstanding job considering he had 32 cabins and they kept changing his assistant.  

[VACruiser123]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:17 PM, Naismith said:

 

"As others have reported, that morning all of the crew were suddenly wearing masks.  At lunch a worker who we had talked with a few times brought us drinks, and I asked him if there were a lot of sick crew.  He looked around carefully, like he was not supposed to be talking about it, and I did not understand his answer..." 

We were on the cruise as well. We mentioned to several of the crew that we were very sorry that they were put back in masks. They were not happy about the decision. They are obviously not going to complain out of the blue to passengers; but if you showed some compassion to their plight they were pretty forthcoming that they are generally put out with the decision making around this issue and just want to get on with it like they have their entire lives.

[Naismith]

17 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

We were just aft of you in 1114.  Yes the crew was great as usual and Riden our room steward did an outstanding job considering he had 32 cabins and they kept changing his assistant.  

Wow, that is a lot-I am glad we requested once-a-day, no ice.  And I thought the assistant-changing was a symptom of holes in the crew due to illness, but who knows.  

[iflyrc5]

4 minutes ago, Naismith said:

Wow, that is a lot-I am glad we requested once-a-day, no ice.  And I thought the assistant-changing was a symptom of holes in the crew due to illness, but who knows.  

We were on for 4 weeks.  Had Riden and David the first 2 weeks then David went home - the last 2 weeks we had Riden and then either Tomy, Achmed, or ???   Yes, management was moving people around to try and fill holes.   Also, talked to a couple of the MDR waiters and they are also moving crew members back and forth between Carnival ships and HAL ships.  One of our waiters had recently returned to the NA from a stint on a Carnival ship.  He said he hated working on the Carnival ship and was very happy to be back on a DAM ship. 

[Naismith]

5 hours ago, VACruiser123 said:

We were on the cruise as well. ....they were pretty forthcoming that they are generally put out with the decision making around this issue and just want to get on with it like they have their entire lives.

I am not sure what you mean by "get on with it like they have their entire lives."  I appreciate that the crew come from many places around the globe and mask-wearing may seem foreign to some, but if the Indonesians were working at home, they would likely also be wearing a mask at their job there as well.  At least on the islands where I have friends, if the many pictures in my Facebook feed are accurate at all.  They are wearing masks at holiday parties, school events, church services and so on.  Mask wearing was not unusual even before Covid.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Naismith

[KAKcruiser]

Did anyone notice that the Manhattan lighting fixture in the atrium didn't have the changing lights anymore?  I was sure if they were broken or they just didn't turn them on.

[VACruiser123]

19 hours ago, Naismith said:

I am not sure what you mean by "get on with it like they have their entire lives."  I appreciate that the crew come from many places around the globe and mask-wearing may seem foreign to some, but if the Indonesians were working at home, they would likely also be wearing a mask at their job there as well.  At least on the islands where I have friends, if the many pictures in my Facebook feed are accurate at all.  They are wearing masks at holiday parties, school events, church services and so on.  Mask wearing was not unusual even before Covid.

Not according to the ones I spoke too. They did not want to be working in them. That is just factual reporting from me...period.