Transatlantic Cruise of 9 May 2006

[Aussie Gal]

NorthernNeighbour,

 

I am enjoying your posts especially the last two as we are going to Ireland next year and will be doing a land trip instead of by ship. We will be driving ourselves around Southern Island for a week and will be visiting Cobb amongst many other towns and cities so your posts have been very helpful and have given me an idea of what to expect.

 

Jennie

[NorthernNeighbour]

Thursday, 18 May 2006

 

We started off the day -- at midnight -- by going to the Dutch Chocolate Extravaganza Dessert buffet. Of course, we ate too much and retired to our cabin feeling we had won the gold medal in the Eating Olympics. At 3 A.M., DW and I got up to reach for the antacid tablets we luckily had remembered to pack.

 

Got back to sleep and arose to have a nice breakfast in the stateroom.

 

Around noon, the Captain came on the blower (“speaker system”) and announced that both the British and French metrological services had advised gale force winds were expected in the English Channel. Therefore, he had decided to cancel the planned call into Dover scheduled for Friday morning and would be heading straight for Amsterdam, where the ship would spend two days instead of the planned one day.

 

DW and I were not disappointed at all. We used to live in Europe so had been to Dover several times already when doing the ferry crossings from and to Calais. So we are most happy to be spending extra time in Amsterdam. Plus the ship will dock at 13h00 (1 PM) tomorrow so we will avoid having to get up what for us is too early -- we had been scheduled to clear customs at 08h00 on Saturday morning but now will clear customs tomorrow afternoon instead. Great!!! The Dutch officer in the Front Office told us we could (after clearing customs) still stay on the ship until we are ready to leave -- as we use the ship for our hotel in Amsterdam until shortly before she departs for Oslo.

 

Rest of the day -- usual shipboard activities. Weather was not yet bad -- so DW was able to sun herself on the top deck. Not too many Europeans on-board so DW’s DH (this writer) has not yet spotted any topless ladies at poolside. I suppose if it happened, some of the Americans on-board would be shocked. The rest of us would be amused.

 

Tonight at dinner, the Captain is offering us champagne as a gesture to make up for the missed ports. Need I say “Cheers”? We’re looking forward to that.

 

Tomorrow will be the final posting, since we will be in Amsterdam. I hope another passenger is able to post something about the remainder of the cruise to Oslo and Copenhagen.

[Grumpy1]

Tonight at dinner, the Captain is offering us champagne as a gesture to make up for the missed ports. Need I say “Cheers”? We’re looking forward to that.

 

Tomorrow will be the final posting, since we will be in Amsterdam. I hope another passenger is able to post something about the remainder of the cruise to Oslo and Copenhagen.

Cheers? We were on a winery tour in south Africa and the conductor of the tour asked about the traditional manner of toasting in various countries. One gentleman remarked that in Canada the official toast is MORE!!

 

There were probably some that were not happy about missing Dover... I wonder if anyone had planned to end the cruise there? But at least you are happy, and as our official chronicler here, that's all that matters:D

 

Enjoy your stay in Amsterdam. You'll probably see more in the storefront windows there than you saw around the pool onboard.:cool:

[seabourndt]

sorry that the ship will not be coming to dover, i was visiting thev ship there. did not find out until tonight and was dissapointed

dave

[Ine]

Welcome to Amsterdam.

The weather is kind of disappointing, but apparantly not (yet) as bad as in GB.

we had some great sunny days, but since yesterday temps went down, rain and wind came.

Hope you will enjoy your stay.

 

Tip: if you like a good indonesian rijsttafel this is the city to eat that.

Places like Indrapura (on Rembrandtsplein) and Sama Sebo near Rijksmuseum are famous for it.

[Marbella]

Cheers? We were on a winery tour in south Africa and the conductor of the tour asked about the traditional manner of toasting in various countries. One gentleman remarked that in Canada the official toast is MORE!!

 

That's funny!! We Canadians can be a rowdy bunch--especially for good free wine! :D

[Ine]

See Amsterdam in Amsterdam on the harborwebcam:

[Marbella]

 

 

Tip: if you like a good indonesian rijsttafel this is the city to eat that.

Places like Indrapura (on Rembrandtsplein) and Sama Sebo near Rijksmuseum are famous for it.

 

 

Ine, I also remember fondly, having ice cream with a generous dolop of whipped cream on top. Also french fries in a paper cone with a lovely type of dressing. Lots of fun munching,while walking along the beautiful canals.

[NorthernNeighbour]

Friday, 19 May and Saturday, 20 May

 

My apologies for posting this one a bit late -- what with a busy social life on-board and all the things to do in Amsterdam, no wonder.

 

Mid-morning on Friday, we entered the North Sea Canal that runs from the Dutch coast inland to the port of Amsterdam. We went through an interesting lock, barely large enough to accommodate the AMSTERDAM and then sailed on through larger inland waters below sea level bound for our destination. While en-route, we passed the CHRYSTAL SERENDITY while she was leaving Amsterdam. We docked fairly promptly at 13h00 but it took some time for the Dutch immigration and customs officers to come onboard (no fault of HAL).

 

DW was the first passenger to have her passport stamped for disembarkation. I was the second. The seventeen passengers who were disembarking in Amsterdam were all gathered in the Hudson Room to be processed first, even though some of us were staying onboard one extra night before the ship left Amsterdam. We were joined by a “crasher” -- a lady who was staying onboard and not leaving in Amsterdam but just wanted to have her passport stamped.

 

After lunch, DW stayed onboard since she had a spa appointment. It was a blustery day in Amsterdam but not too cold (at least by Canadian standards) although the Americans from Florida found it cold. Tram line number 16 very conveniently leaves the Passenger Ship Terminal, proceeds to Central Station and then on down on of the main streets of Amsterdam -- oh, those enterprising Dutch, they think of everything to make their country a tourist-friendly destination. Coming back, you catch tram 16 and stay on to the end of the line since the Passenger Ship Terminal is the final stop. (A good joke -- the other end of tram line number 16 is the Medical Centre in Amsterdam, so if anyone onboard ship needed to go to the hospital they could just board the tram outside the ship, stayed on until the other end and get off for medical treatment!!!)

 

I rode for several kilometres then got off to start walking back. Stopped at a nice wine shop to buy a gift of a bottle of wine for a fellow Canadian who was staying onboard and likes red wine. Having forgotten Dutch customs (since I had lived in Rotterdam many, many years ago), I mistakenly picked up a bottle of wine to make an inquiry of the wine merchant. Got a very gentle scolding -- one does not pick up a bottle of wine unless firmly intending to buy it. (Too much handling of the bottle means other customers will not buy it -- makes sense to me, on reflection.) I had just wanted to inquire if he had a similar wine. In any event, I decided to buy it anyway -- since it was really what I wanted after all.

 

The wine merchant kindly directed me to a chocolate shop a few doors away -- got another gift for another Canadian onboard, a box of ten chocolates half of which have booze inside. But I got the shop lady to choose which ones were in the box without telling me. So, my fellow Canadian will have to try them all to discover which ones are boozy and which ones are not. I hope they are good and that she enjoys them.

 

Tip: -- when in Amsterdam, always have some Euro change in your pockets. If you need to go to the loo, even at McDonalds you are expected to pay 25 or 30 Euro cents, even for a pee. When in Rome ----

 

Got back to the ship and had dinner on-board with our fellow Canadians and to say good-bye to our dining room stewards. Our cabin attendant was also leaving the ship to fly home for a family emergency to Jakarta via Hong Kong. (We had had excellent service so we gave extra gratuities, except for the room service attendant. He had offered no extra service but still expected something. Sorry, he did not get it.)

 

Next morning (Saturday), we went to breakfast to find out some news from our fellow Canadians. One of them had met one of the ship’s officers who escorted her for a late-night tour of the Red Light District. For those readers who are not familiar with this ritual, the Red Light District is an obligatory stop for visitors to Amsterdam -- even if you have no intention of making a purchase. Think of it as an educational experience -- it gives a whole new meaning to the words “field trip”. One eighty-five year old gentlemen we met said the District was the first place he headed -- naturally we cracked a few jokes about him.

 

I have finished my packing and as I write this final posting, DW is finishing hers. The limousine driver will be here at 16h00 to transport us to Amsterdam Airport where we will stay overnight before flying to Scotland. After a week there, we will return to New York on the QM2. However, I have decided not to write my experiences while onboard that ship --since I have a nice thick book I want to finish reading. In any event, that voyage will be six full days at sea with no intermediate ports of call -- and I very much like just being at sea for days at a time.

 

DW and I hope to go on a dinner cruise tonight on the canals of Amsterdam, after we check into our hotel.

 

In summary -- the transatlantic voyage aboard the AMSTERDAM was good value for money. A solid upper middle class voyage with well behaved passengers and even better behaved crew members. If you are a snob or are looking to travel with only very wealthy people, this voyage is not for you. But for those who, like us, view snobs as being insecure people who are boring to travel with (they only think of themselves) -- then HAL is an excellent choice.

 

Final tip -- we had excellent dinner companions at the assigned seating. However, if travelling on HAL and you do not luck out and get people as dinner companions you cannot stand -- just have a discreet word with the Maitre D to see if you switch to a table more to your liking at a different seating (HAL has four different times for dinner). This give you a convenient excuse for switching -- you wanted a different time (although you perhaps really want different dining companions).

 

For those continuing on this voyage to Copenhagen, I wish you a safe journey. I still trust that someone else will be able to post words about the remaining days, so we can find out what we missed. Please take a moment to vote in the poll at the top of this thread to let me know how I did in writing this.

[boomerSexyK]

Excellent reading thoroughly enjoyed your day-by-day account of a wonderful trip

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Thanks, Northern Neighbour, I voted in your poll, and found your cruise journal "absolutely interesting". Thank you very much for an excellent, onsite review! Enjoy your trip home on the QM2!

[NorthernNeighbour]

Thanks to all those who sent their kind regards and comments while we were on the cruise. Nice to hear from other subscribers to the web site.

 

Cheers from Schipol Airport Hotel in Amsterdam. At this hour, the ship the just over one hour away from embarkation to sail to Oslo.

[Aussie Gal]

NorthernNeighbour,

 

Thanks so much for taking us on a wonderful journey on the Amsterdam. Have a great week in Scotland, it is a lovely country and enjoy your Transatlantic on the QM2.

 

Jennie