Live from the Koningsdam, it's a Solar Eclipse! April 5th to 27th

[cruisn71]

Last night was our 1st of four dressy nights and we were served the Silver Gala menu.  At the table we received the normal menu folders and not the 'fancier' menu cards one usually gets on dressy nights.  Our waiters were overworked and dinner service was slow and our food was warm at best.  Dinner menus attached below.

 

The Captains Welcome and Humanity were the shows last night.

 

silver_gala_2024_dr_menu_02_updated.pdf s_pacific_lido_dinner_2023_r_vis_sig_v1_-_menu_02_en.pdf

[cruisn71]

We arrived early in Cabo today.  There are two other ships here today.  The Explora 1 and the Sapphire Princess (subject to correction, might be the Emerald).  line ups for tender were done by 10:45.  We have a nice long day here today.  All aboard is 10:30 pm.

[cruisin'teach]

Beautiful day in Cabo!

[xLibLabLady]

1 hour ago, cruisin'teach said:

Beautiful day in Cabo!

Yes it was!   Sunny and warm but not hot.  Annnnd there was a fireworks show!

 

 

[Haljo1935]

19 hours ago, cruisn71 said:

...Our waiters were overworked and dinner service was slow and our food was warm at best.

That's disappointing. I hope it improves for you.

[Haljo1935]

23 hours ago, syesmar said:

I see on HAL’s FB page they will be livestreaming from ms Koningsdam during the eclipse (stream begins at 1:30pm EST). Sounds like a wonderful cruise so far! Thanks for sharing your adventures @cruisn71
 

Livestream link here:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/280694885081850/

That's great- thanks for sharing the link.

[GTVCRUISER]

This cruise sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. I'll be following along with you! Love your Photos , I have friends onboard , Koningsdam my favorite dam ship 🙂 

[cruisn71]

I am falling behind in my posts.  The Eclipse was spectacular.  The skies were pretty much clear and the captain positioned the ship with the aft pointed straight at the sun.  We had perfect viewing for the whole event.  I have pictures on my big camera and will post them later.

 

I did observe a new type of chair hog today.  All the chairs at the tables of the sea view deck were dragged away.  

[cruisn71]

Photos from the eclipse.

Start of the totality

 

 

The eclipse with Venus to the right.

 

[cruisn71]

Last night's dinner menus attached.

 

I had the chilli releno, one of my favorites.  It was quite good and very large.  The appetizer was the thai spring roll.kodm-lido_dinne-menu-_mexican_them_dinner.pdf

hawaii_dr_dinner_2023_menu_3.pdf

[cruisn71]

Today's special corner in the Lido was Heritage Corner.  This was Indonesian and Philipino specialties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PSR]

What is this "Heritage Corner"? Is it something new? I am not familiar with this in the Lido, although we rarely go to the Lido for lunch. The items sound interesting and different. Is it where the "Sweet Spot" is in the lido? I am not familiar with that either, but it sounds like a dessert location; guess I sound like a newbie, but I have been on HAL many times, so I am kind of embarrassed to not have seen it before. Thanks for any info! 

[cruisn71]

6 minutes ago, PSR said:

What is this "Heritage Corner"? Is it something new? I am not familiar with this in the Lido, although we rarely go to the Lido for lunch. The items sound interesting and different. Is it where the "Sweet Spot" is in the lido? I am not familiar with that either, but it sounds like a dessert location; guess I sound like a newbie, but I have been on HAL many times, so I am kind of embarrassed to not have seen it before. Thanks for any info! 

They are doing a special 'corner' in the lido at lunch on sea days.  They had American on the 1st sea day.   They call this one Heritage.  I am expecting French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese and more based on previous cruises.  It is being held in the port side Sweetspot across from Rise 

Edited April 9 by cruisn71
More detail.

[PSR]

12 minutes ago, cruisn71 said:

They are doing a special 'corner' in the lido at lunch on sea days.  They had American on the 1st sea day.   They call this one Heritage.  I am expecting French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese and more based on previous cruises.  It is being held in the port side Sweetspot across from Rise 

 

Thank you. Is this only on the Koningsdam and other ships of its type? Haven't been on one of those yet; also not familiar with "Rise" either...sounds like the baked item area.

Edited April 9 by PSR

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, cruisn71 said:

 

 

How creative - nice touch for the bakery chefs to make eclipse cake and cupcakes for you.😎

[cruisn71]

5 hours ago, PSR said:

 

Thank you. Is this only on the Koningsdam and other ships of its type? Haven't been on one of those yet; also not familiar with "Rise" either...sounds like the baked item area.

I have seen something similar on the Oosterdam when we did Antarctica in 2022/2023.  They had one of the salad stations set up for special lunches and dinners on sea days.  I think longer cruises with lots of sea days have these special lunches.  We also had them last year on the 150th anniversary sailing.

[oakridger]

I was thinking about the Eclipse cruises this morning and wondered if you had clear skys.  I'm thrilled to hear that the viewing was great for everyone!  

 

I'll be sure to look for this special "Corner" in the Lido on my May cruise.  I would love to try some of these dishes.

 

~Nancy

[ski ww]

Glad you had a great view of the eclipse, we had heavy over cast and saw nothing.

[CruiseDuckDuo]

On 4/8/2024 at 4:47 PM, cruisn71 said:

Photos from the eclipse.

Start of the totality

 

 

The eclipse with Venus to the right.

 

Beautiful pictures!  I'm envious!  We flew from Seattle to Nashville, then drove north to Evansville, IN in search of clear(er) skies.  Just had a couple of old phones for pics, but we were blessed, at least, with some pretty views too.  

[ricka47]

On 4/8/2024 at 5:54 PM, cruisn71 said:

I am falling behind in my posts.  The Eclipse was spectacular.  The skies were pretty much clear and the captain positioned the ship with the aft pointed straight at the sun.  We had perfect viewing for the whole event.  I have pictures on my big camera and will post them later.

 

I did observe a new type of chair hog today.  All the chairs at the tables of the sea view deck were dragged away.  

"Chogs" are showing signs of mutating!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[mocruzer]

Enjoying your review and great shot of the solar eclipse!

[cruisn71]

Falling behind again.

 

After the eclipse I spent the afternoon relaxing and getting some photos off the DSLR and on to my phone.

 

Ate dinner in the MDR that evening.  Menus attached.s_pacific_lido_dinner_2023-menu_05.pdf

 

hawaii_dr_dinner_2023_menu_5.pdf

 

The entertainment that evening was a comedian.   Leyland Klassen from BC in Canada.  I thought he was great.  One of the best comedians I have seen o  board for a while.

[cruisn71]

April 9th - Mazatlan

 

No particular plans today.  We left the ship late morning so no waits for the port shuttle.  Decided to walk to the central market.  Google maps suggested a terrible route.  It was the fastest,  but the roughest. Wandered around the market and bought some souvenirs.   Walked a different route back to the ship and it was much better.  Made it back on board in time for trivia.  Overall a great day.  Weather was pleasant and not too hot.

 

Today's music trivia was Motown.  Our team won with a score of 14 out of 15.  I was of no help.

 

The evening entertainment was a musical wife and husband duo.  I didn't attend.

 

Lunch menu for the Lido (no Corner today)

 

s_pacific_lido_lunch_2023_-_menu_05_en.pdf

 

Dinner menus

 

hawaii_dr_dinner_2023_menu_6.pdfs_pacific_lido_dinner_2023_r_vis_sig_v1_-_menu_06_en.pdf

[cruisn71]

On to today! 

 

I worked for a few hours this morning.  Was able to use Teams and VPN with no issue on the Premium internet package.

 

A post work to trip to the thermal suite was followed up by tying for 1st place at 1pm trivia and losing on the tie breaker.   Tie breaker question was 'How many studialbums did the Beatles record?'  The correct answer is 12.

 

Today's Lido Corner is Dim Sum.  There were an assortment of bao (steamed buns) and pot stickers.  My dim sum favorites of Har Gao and Sui Mai were MIA.  All in all they were tasty.

 

 

 

 

At this afternoon's lightening trivia our team had a respectable 25 out of 20 score. Three teams tied for 1st with a score of 27.