Memo from the British Isles - 14 days Almost Live from Nieuw Statendam

[VMax1700]

We boarded yesterday in a wet and windy Copenhagen.

Here is the infopic and itinerary.

More to follow....

 

 

[oakridger]

Good Morning!  I will be following along daily to see what you are up to @VMax1700!!  I hope your weather clears up.  Have a great trip!

 

~Nancy

Edited August 10, 2023 by oakridger

[TAW1963]

Have a great cruise!  I look forward to hearing your updates.

[ski ww]

Sounds like the weather in that part of the world is not getting any better. We did Norway in July & it was not the best either, rain, clouds over cast most days. Only good one decent sun set, sun rise on the  2 weeks we were on board. And the southern part of Europe is melting & burning up, or too much rain. Hope it clears up for you.

[POA1]

This thread certainly rates a "Like & Follow" 👍 Looking forward to your reports and I know my lovely bride will be following along. She loves this itinerary.

 

I will now tag her in the "husband might forget and he best not wake her two hours before the alarm goes off" fashion. @Huskerchick

[puppycanducruise]

Have a great cruise!

[VMax1700]

A small bit of background to this cruise.  You may have read about the weather we have been having in Europe this summer.  While southern Europe melts with ultra high temperatures and wildfires, western and northern Europe has had storms and rain.  Ireland, having just had its warmest ever June, followed with its wettest ever July.  So we decided that we could fit a quick two weeks trip before our pre planned Baltic cruise at the end of September.  So we only booked this trip a couple of weeks ago.

 

We flew from Cork to Amsterdam and then on to Copenhagen with KLM.  1 hour 45minutes from Cork to Amsterdam on an Embaer 175 and then 1 hour from Amsterdam to Copenhagen on a B737/800.  The Amsterdam to Copenhagen flight had a delayed departure and three gate changes but we eventually arrived in our hotel only about 90 minutes later than planned.

 

For the one night we stayed in Clarion Copenhagen Airport, which is accessed directly from the terminal building without having to go out into the wind or rain.  Check in was super efficient and we had a good nights sleep.   Breakfast was adequate (I did notice a large area set aside for gluten free products complete with its own toaster).

Edited August 10, 2023 by VMax1700

[VMax1700]

We had pre booked a car to take us from the hotel to Oceankaj to board the ship.  I had booked this for 11.15am to allow for a leisurely breakfast and had planned to board about 12 noon.  HAL sent us a check in  time of 1pm, but I was not overly concerned, specially when our driver was 20 minutes late arriving for us and then we had nightmare traffic for the drive through Copenhage.  Google maps had shown the drive as taking 34 minutes but it ended up taking over an hour because of the traffic.

 

 

 

 

We had previous uploaded security photos to Navigator so when we entered the terminal it was just a matter of standing in front of the machines while they scanned our beautiful faces and decided that 'yes' you may board.  From there it was a short walk to the fwd gangplank and onboard.  There was a clearly marked lane for 4/5 star + Club Orange Neptune etc.  The actual checkin/embarkation process (for us) was one of the smoothest and quickest we have experienced.

 

Waiting for the elevator to get to the stateroom was another story.  My pet peeve of the day - why take pax luggage onboard using the same elevators as pax are using to get to their staterooms?  Only two elevators out of 4 were available and the restless line of pax trying to get on snaked back to the gangplank.  

[VMax1700]

Connecting to the internet was very easy.  Just follow the instruction flow from Navigator...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Looking forward to all of your reports, Colin.  Hope you have a wonderful time !

 

On the K, I learned to avoid the aft elevators on turn around day after my experience on embarkation day.  I agree with you @VMax1700 - direct the passengers to the bank of elevators not being used for luggage.

 

You have on whack of tender ports!  Hope they go well 🤞 

[VMax1700]

I ran Speedtest this morning and it seems that all thrusters were firing!

 

[VMax1700]

Currently the surf plan is adequate for us.  I have checked it and WhatsApp messaging is functioning as are WhatsApp phone calls. 

 

[VMax1700]

Emabarkation Day 1

 

Daily Program:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VMax1700]

Apologies for the images being directionally challenged!

[VMax1700]

Embarkation Day 1

Menus

 

 

 

 

 

 

m1-day1-_lido_steak_dinner_north_europe_voyage (1).pdf

 

 

m1-day1-_mdr_north_europe_2023.pdf

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by VMax1700

[nutensteve]

I really appreciate you doing a review of your British Isles cruise. We are doing a similar itinerary on the Rotterdam in May of 2024. We leave from Rotterdam. Thanks again !!

[VMax1700]

Finally from Day 1,

 Bread Pudding of the Day......

😋

 

[POA1]

3 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

The Amsterdam to Copenhagen flight had a delayed departure and three gate changes

Three gate changes burn enough energy & calories to cover an extra appetizer or dessert.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

Finally from Day 1,

 Bread Pudding of the Day......

😋

 

 

A bread pudding pic?  I am SHOCKED I tell you - SHOCKED 😆 😂. I’m sure you enjoyed 😊 

[Nodakboiler]

One nice improvement is that all internet issues are now resolved in BB Kings which frees up the lines at Guest Services on embarkation day!

[badtwin]

7 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

 

Waiting for the elevator to get to the stateroom was another story.  My pet peeve of the day - why take pax luggage onboard using the same elevators as pax are using to get to their staterooms?  Only two elevators out of 4 were available and the restless line of pax trying to get on snaked back to the gangplank.  

 

Nieuw Statendam has a little over 1300 cabins.  Assume 2 pieces of luggage per cabin, that is 2600 suitcases.  Assume 11am start to boarding and 4 or 5pm departure, that is 5 or 6 hours to move luggage or around 450 to 500 bags per hour.  Assuming they are also replenishing the ships' stores, suspect the service elevators are plenty busy too.  

 

That said, it would help to direct people to elevators at other parts of ship.

 

 

 

 

[VMax1700]

One very last thing from Day 1 - when we got to the room I found a 'Your Reservation' notice for Tamarind, stating that as part of HIA promotion we had been booked into Tamarind at 6.30pm on August 9th (Day 1).  This was very nice of them as I had already booked our promo Tamarind for later in the cruise.  However as the later booking is still showing in Navigator I am wondering if we had turned up last night would we have got a second free Tamarind?  (just thinking out loud and not really looking for replies!)

[VMax1700]

Day 2 At Sea (First Dressy Night).

 

Daily Program

 

 

 

 

 

Why are two images horizontal and one vertical when they were all take with the same orientation?  

[VMax1700]

[VMax1700]

Day 2 Menus (First Dressy Night)

 

 

 

 

 

m2-day2-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023 (1).pdf m2-day2-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage (2).pdf Day 2 gala 150 year dinner.pdf